Weapon of Man
by Fox Sannin
Summary: When Sarutobi goes to collect Naruto on the night of the Kyuubi attack he finds that the young boy has been kidnapped! Thirteen years later after an attack on a ROOT base, a child has been found. Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: The Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto, but when Sarutobi goes to collect him he finds that the young demon container has been kidnapped! Now thirteen years later, after an attack on the base of a rouge ANBU division, a young boy has been found. After looking through some forgotten files they discover that he has been conditioned to be the perfect weapon. But how can such a young caring boy be anything but a child? To find out Sarutobi places him under the care of Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress; Yuhi Kurenai.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (but i will if I can finish creating my army of potato people mwahahahahaha)

**AN: My first fic EVER!!! Ok now that that's out of my system (for now) I would like to say a few things about this fic:**

**1. First of all I WILL FINISH THIS FIC. There's nothing I hate more than a fan fic that just stops in the middle of the story. No matter how long, it will be completed.**

**2. Will be NarutoXIno.**

**3. Chapter become FAR LONGER after chapter 2 onward. I now do them in 15,000 word parts.**

**Well now that that's out of the way onward with the story!!!!**

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Sarutobi looked out over the ruins of Konoha. There wasn't a part of the city that had escaped the touch of the demon. Even now shinobi disaster crews and civilian volunteers fought to keep the flames from spreading as they got the wounded to the already packed hospital. It was a grim day. And there would be another death if he couldn't convince the council to spare the boy. He turned away from the window and continued down the corridor to the Council Chambers. He paused before the great oak doors, taking a puff of his pipe to prepare himself, then walked in.

The Council Chambers of Konoha were a thing to behold. The main Chamber was a large cylinder of white marble roughly forty meters across and fifty meters tall with a large round table was placed in the centre. Rumour has it the First Hokage cut the table from the branches of the first and greatest tree in Konoha, The Great Oak, and was a symbol of Konoha's might but Sarutobi was probably the only one left in the village that knew that it was actually just a spare that the First had found in a warehouse and decided to use because it reminded him of his favourite bed-time story as a child; the Shinobi of the Round table. Sarutobi chuckled quietly at the memory, the night he found out that little bit of gossip was one of the few times he had seen his teacher' brother truly drunk. As he walked to his chair he took a look at the statues set into hollows in the walls. There was Yamanaka Inako who had first developed the idea of mind jutsu, thus bringing about the creation of his clan. Over there was Akimichi Chozabu who, along with his two brothers defeated an army of two-hundred enemy nin's but sadly died soon after because of their special family soldier pills. And there, the largest of all the statues, were the Hokages. Each sculpture was perfect, having been carved by Konoha's greatest artisans. Even as stone they seemed to radiate unrivalled power, authority and compassion. The Sandaime's eyes lingered on the face of the latest addition. The Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. It was hard to think that just twenty-four hours ago both he and Minato had been sitting at the local ramen bar talking about the latest Icha Icha Paradise (they had gotten free uncensored editions from the author himself) but now he was dead, killed saving his home from Kyuubi.

Heaving a sigh Sarutobi lowered himself into his chair and addressed the council.

"Gentlemen," His croaky voice carried around the Chamber. "For what reason have you convened this council?"

"Sarutobi-sama we have come to discuss the fate of the demon." Said one member.

"Yes," Another piped up. "That creature is too dangerous to be left alive."

"What creature?" Sarutobi asked.

"The boy Hokage-sama, he must be killed for the good of the village. We have discussed it and many of us believe that it would be better if the execution was publ-."

"No." Sarutobi said.

"Excuse me?"

"Naruto will not be killed." He replied simply, taking another puff of his pipe.

"May we ask why." The councilman asked with obvious bewilderment.

"Other than the obvious reason that he is an innocent child?"

"An innocent child?" The man asked incredulously. "Hokage-sama you will see the reason he must be killed if you look out the window."

"I already have and I saw only the damage done by the Kyuubi, not by Naruto" The old Kage stated firmly.

"Is there a difference?" The councilman scoffed..

"Of course there's a fucking difference!"

The shout rang out through the Chamber and every head turned to see a woman come through the doors. She was a kunoichi, they could tell that much from the ninja style pants and sandals she was wearing as well as the Jounin vest she wore over a red sleeveless turtleneck. She had long wavy black hair that reached down to her shoulder blades and they could tell by her body that she was a good fighter, and the two unconscious guards behind her proved it. But the most striking thing about her was her eyes; they were a rich red, like a pair of rubies, and unfortunately for them they were also narrowed in anger. And when Yuhi Kurenai was angry you had better run.

"What is the meaning of this?" The councilman who had been arguing with Sarutobi raged.

"Shut up!" Kurenai warned. She walked into the Chamber and walked around the table to stop in front of Sarutobi.

"What right do you have to interrupt a council meeting?" The councilman leapt to his feet as she passed. She glared at him so hard he was forced to sit back down with a shiver running up his spine.

"I have every right!" She hissed. She turned to face the Hokage as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Where is he Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi sighed as he took off his hat and place it on the table in front of him, massaging his temple to ward of the coming headache. "Kurenai can't we wait till later to talk?" He asked wearily.

"No. I have come to take him and I will."

"Hokage-sama who is this?" A council member asked.

"This is Yuhi Kurenai former team-mate of Namikaze Minato...and godmother of Naruto,"

At hearing this there were murmurings from everyone present. Yamanaka Inoichi stood and asked the question that was on a few minds of the people trying to save the boy.

"Kurenai if your Naruto's godmother," She was pleased to note he didn't say 'the demon'. "Then who are his parents?"

She looked at the Hokage who gave a slight nod before she turned back to the council. "Well Inoichi, Naruto is the son of Uzumaki Kushina and...Minato"

The reaction was immediate. Many members declaring that it was impossible and that she was lying, others asking the Sandaime if it was true. He just nodded his head. He raised a hand for silence and after the commotion had died down everyone sat quietly digesting this new information. It was Hyuuga Hiashi who broke the silence.

"Hokage-sama what is to become of the boy?" Everyone perked up at this and looked at their leader with expectation. Sarutobi took a long draw from his pipe then looked at Kurenai who nodded and he let out a tired sigh.

"We will respect his parents wishes and he will be placed under the care of Yuhi Kurenai."

"But sir we can't let the demon live, it will-!" The council member's rabble was cut short by a swift elbow to the gut courtesy of Inuzuka Tsume.

"I wouldn't talk too harshly of Minato's son. Both Minato and Kushina were respected by nearly every ninja in this village, ninja who would fight to protect their son." She told him as he slid to the ground.

"I agree," Said Sarutobi. "But a few ninja and more than a few villagers will try to harm him so from this point on the fact that Naruto is the Kyuubi's container shall be an S-classed secret; anyone who tells either Naruto or their children shall be executed, that way he should lead a relatively normal life. Also I think he should go by his mothers name of Uzumaki so he will be protected from his fathers old enemy's from the Third Shinobi war. He will be told everything after his sixteenth birthday but the law will still be in effect, only Naruto can tell people the truth. That is all. Dismissed."

As the room cleared Sarutobi walked along side Kurenai as they headed towards his office. Neither said a word until they reached the Hokage office, noticing the form of a fifteen year old Kakashi standing guard an a bloody ANBU uniform.

Kurenai cracked an eyebrow as she glanced over his clothes. "Trouble?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No. I was helping Rin get some wounded out of the market district earlier."

Sarutobi flashed through a few hand seals and undid the security seal he placed on the office before he stepped in followed closely by Kurenai and Kakashi to see Naruto...GONE!?

He spun around to look at them, who were still staring at the empty crib. "Kakashi lock this place down! I want Naruto found quickly and unhurt!"

With a quick 'Hai' Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves. As Sarutobi glanced over the room again.

_'How the hell did they get past the seal?'_ He thought to himself.

Kurenai was still staring at the crib, tears quickly filling her eyes and fear pooling in her heart.

_'Naruto please be alright.'_

* * *

Thirteen years had passed since that day but sadly there was no sign of Naruto.

However they never gave up, hoping that they would get some scrap of a clue that would let them know were Naruto was or if he was even alive. In that time new problems arose for the village; Uchiha Itachi had massacred his entire clan save for his little brother Sasuke, the Hidden Cloud village tried to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress to unlock the secrets of the Byakugan which resulted in the death of Hiashi's brother and in one of the worst displays of treachery in Konoha's history Danzou and his ROOT division of ANBU attempted a coup only to be foiled by the timely arrival of Jiraiya who had been hunting for signs of Naruto and found out about the attack through his spies.

After the failed attack ROOT was forced into resorting to gorilla warfare and after a few months Konoha managed to get Intel about one of their major bases and plan a surprise attack. The battle was short but fierce but with the element of surprise the Leaf nins were able to take the base with minimal effort.

Kurenai picked her way through the ruined corridor, stepping over bodies and discarded weapons as she made her way to Genma's team who needed help dispelling some high level genjutsu. The place reminded her of a sewer with the pipes going along the roof and walls and the constant sounds of dripping the echoed through the tunnels.

She stepped over a large rat and quickened her pace. She was thankful that she had chosen to leave her bandage dress at home instead opting for knee high kunoichi sandals which had a tight pair of ninja pants tucked into them which had her kunai pouch and shuriken satchel attached. She also wore her Jounin vest over a longer version of her old short-sleeved red shirt which came out from under the vest to the middle of her thighs with slits down the front, sides and back for increased mobility. To top it off she had fingerless ninja gloves with metal plates on the back and her forehead protector around her throat.

As she walked through the next door she could see the slight fuzziness in the air; an indication of a strong genjutsu and something that only a genjutsu specialist like her would notice after years of practice. She flashed through the hand seals and focused her chakra to dispel it. She had just finished when a voice called out to her.

"Kurenai." She turned to see Genma, senbon in mouth as always, standing with his team next to a large metal door. "Glad you could make it."

"So what did you find?" She asked as she inspected the door. It was large, about three meters wide and four tall with a complicated lock.

"Well we found this thing covered by a strong Genjutsu and surrounded by guards. We cleared them but got trapped in the jutsu and have been waiting for you ever since. The door got hit by an explosion during the fight but it didn't even scratch it."

"So what are you going to do?"

Genma grinned as he turned to his squad. "Alright boys show the lady how its done."

The two shinobi at each side of the door flashed through a dozen hand seals before slamming their hands onto the wall while shouting **'Doton: Tsuchi Shuushuku no jutsu'**. Suddenly the walls, floor and roof started to crush the door, compressing it to the size of a small boulder before retracting and allowing the ball of now useless metal to fall to the floor. They walked in as the lights started to come on, illuminating a lab of sorts. They immediately tensed as they sensed movement to the right. They quickly, but silently, moved into the room on the right just as the lights were coming on. What they saw made them pull up short. There, sitting in the middle of the room, was a large cage about two meters long, wide and tall. But it was what was in the cage that gave them pause.

There was a young boy, no older than thirteen, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the cage apparently oblivious to their presence. He wore black sandals as well as black ninja pants and a tight sleeveless muscle shirt. He also had a strange collar around his neck; it looked like it was made of tough black leather with metal rings at the side. At the top of his right arm he had a tattoo; a red and white fox head surrounded by a cog wheel with the number thirteen under it. His blond head raised up as they came close. What Kurenai saw made her breath catch in her throat; his eyes were of the deepest blue and on each cheek were three distinct whisker-like marks.

_'Oh…my god,'_ She thought as she inched closer._ 'Its him...its really ...really him'_

When she reached the front of the cage she got on her knees looked at him through the bars. He gave her the kind of look a young child would give when it sees something for the first time, his head tilted to one side and a look of innocent curiosity on his face.

"H-hello." She whispered, not believing her eyes.

"Hi." He replied quietly.

"My names Kurenai. Can you tell me yours?"

"Mine?" He asked, pointing to himself. "I'm Fox."

* * *

**A/N: I rewrote this chapter a little.**

****

Jutsu marked with a (*) belong to me:

Doton: Tsuchi Shuushuku no jutsu - Earth Release: Earth Constriction no jutsu


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto (The potato people were massacred in an unfortunate dinner fiasco *Sob*. But I will own Naruto after I train my new Monkey ninjas mwahahahahahahahahah!)**

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"I see."

Sarutobi stood at the window of his office, overlooking Konoha. The attack group sent to the ROOT base had just returned a few hours ago and since then all the Jounin in charge had been in a de-briefing with the Hokage. They talked about the prisoner's they captured and any Intel gathered but the biggest topic of conversation was the boy that was found.

_'So he's been with Root this entire time. This proves that Danzou has been plotting behind my back for quite a while. I just hope that old war hawk didn't do too much damage to Naruto, although...he does seem alright. But what about those files Rin found?'_

Sarutobi thought back to what Kurenai had told him had happened.

*******//Flashback no jutsu//*******

_"My names Kurenai. Can you tell me yours?"_

_"Mine?" He asked, pointing to himself. "I'm Fox."_

'Fox?' _Kurenai thought. _'What does he mean he's Fox? Did I get it wrong, is this not him? No! If you took away those whisker marks he'd be a mini Minato. Oh Naruto what did they do to you?'

_Reaching into the high neck of her shirt she tuned her communicator to a frequency and spoke. "Team 4 to Team 2. Team 2 please come in."_

_After a few seconds of static she received an answer. "Team 2 here. What'cha need Kurenai."_

_"Rin I'm in sector 6-C and I've found something you need to see. _

_Something...interesting."_

_"Define interesting."_

_Kurenai smiled and said, "We've found 'Lost Legacy'."_

_Silence. Then a whisper came through. "...what?"_

_"We found him Rin. We finally found him."_

_This time Kurenai didn't have to wait for a reply. "Don't move I'm on my way!"_

_She flicked off the radio and she looked back at Naruto. The boy seemed to have not taken his eyes off her once and just sat there with a slightly confused look on his face._

_"Are you my new master?"_

_His voice was soft yet had a almost undetectable tone of...was that authority?_

_"What would make you think that?" Kurenai had to be careful of how she handled the situation. She didn't have any idea of his mental state, and being locked in a cage just caused further suspicion._

_"Well usually the only people who visit me are either my Master or my teachers. My teachers come round all the time but I've not seen my Master in a long time and was beginning to think something had happened to him."_

_Kurenai thought for a moment before asking, "Na-...Fox could you tell me your Masters name?"_

_He thought for a few seconds before he looked back at her. "I don't know. He just told me to call him Master and punished me if I didn't."_

_"Okay. Hmm...well can you tell me what your teachers taught you?"_

_Another pause then, "No, but it's weird."_

_"What's weird?"_

_"When my teachers came and got me they took me into a big training hall then," He pointed to his neck. "They took my collar off, then the next thing I know I wake up here feeling tired."_

_Before Kurenai could ask anything else she sensed someone coming up to her from behind, fast. She whipped out a kunai and spun on her heel into a low defensive stance. She relaxed when she heard Rin's voice and she ran to the door._

_"-renai! Kurenai, where is he!?" Rin came flying down the passage and ran towards Kurenai._

_Masaki Rin had changed a lot over the years. In place of the little girl stood the woman she had grown into. Standing roughly at the same height as Kurenai, her soft brown hair had grown out a little and was now tied back in a short ponytail at the base of her skull. She wore the regulation black shinobi sandals and shuriken satchel but that was where any similarity to a regular Konoha ninja ended. On her legs she wore baggy dark blue pants, like those of regular civilians, that hung over her sandals showing only her toes. Around her waist she wore two white belts which dangled down either side of her hips, hung with bandages, syringes and other medical equipment which was held together by a buckle made from her forehead protector. However it was her vest that made Rin unique; instead of the normal forest green her vest was a pure white, with sheaths for kunai sewn around her chest and abdomen that wouldn't restrict her movement and had the symbol of Konoha Shinobi Infirmary on the back._

_She slid to a stop in front of Kurenai, only slightly out of breath._

_"Kurenai! You actually found him?"_

_"Yes but Rin there's som-"_

_"Well where is he!? Can I see him? Is he okay?"_

_"Yes in a second but first-"_

_"What the hell is he doing here? Did those bastards do something to him!? Oh I'm going to kill-!"_

_"Rin!" Kurenai finally had enough and grabbed the ranting girl by the shoulders and shook her roughly to get her to calm down. "Yes he is here but there are some things you have to know before you see him. Now first thing you should know is he doesn't go by 'Naruto', as far as he's concerned his name is 'Fox'. Now this is most obviously a codename so that's not really that important but just so you know you should call him Fox for the time being. Another thing, he mentioned something about training but what's strange is the collar around his neck. He told me when he's taken away to train they take the collar off he looses all memory of the training until he's back in his cage."_

_"Cage?"_

_"They keep him in a cage when he's not training. That's the other thing I wanted you here for. You see those filing cabinets?" She pointed to the large cabinets against the back wall of the lab. Rin nodded. "I want you to go through them and see what these bastards did to him."_

_Rin gestured to the door leading to Naruto's cage. "Can we at least let him out?"_

_"No we don't know if he's in that cage for a reason or if they're just heartless pricks."_

_Kurenai could tell Rin wanted to argue more but could see the logic behind her actions. Finally she sighed at started going through the many files while Kurenai went back to Naruto. She sat in front of him and crossed her legs._

_"Fox I'm going to ask you some questions if that's okay with you." He nodded. "Okay for starters how long have you been in this place?"_

_He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Forever I guess."_

_She nodded and after a moment asked, "Do you know what your getting training for?"_

_"They just tell me it's for missions."_

_Kurenai sighed as she realized that she wouldn't get any helpful information from Naruto because of his mysterious amnesia._

_"Why are you here?"_

_She looked back up at him. "We came here because this is a base belonging to a group of traitors from Konoha."_

_"The Hidden Leaf?"_

_She raised an eyebrow and asked, "You know of it?"_

_"Yeah, I know a lot about Konoha." He grinned._

_"How?"_

_"They give me stuff to study and it's _always_ about Konoha."_

_She smiled and asked, "What kind of stuff do you know?"_

_He adopted a thinking pose and started. "Well I know that Konoha has a civilian population of around thirty-thousand and a ninja population of ten-thousand. It has one of the best mission income rates of the Five Great Shinobi Nations. It's surrounded by Senju trees, named after the First Hokage who created Konoha and it's forests. The ANBU are a specialised force made up of the best ninja in the village and answer only to the Hokage. The ANBU is split up into five departments including; Torture and Interrogation, Hunter-Nin, Information, Assassination and the Infiltration Unit. Their respective commanders are Morino Ibiki, Asika Moki, Yamanaka Inoichi, Mitarashi Anko and Iba Seito. There are a maze of tunnels running underneath Konoha and the surrounding area used fo-"_

_Kurenai raised a hand to cut him off._

_"Wait wait wait, how do you know that?" The information he was giving her started off as mild tourist facts then moved onto highly classified military secrets known only to those of Jounin level and above. Secrets which could be vary dangerous in the wrong hands._

_"I'm just told to memorize everything they give me to read and I'm punished if I don't."_

'Sounds like Danzou wants him to know everything about Konoha and it's military but why? What reason could he have for making Naruto memorize facts that he himself already knows?'

_Kurenai was broken out of her revere by Rin calling her name. Standing and making her way back into the lab to find Rin sat at one of the desks surrounded by files. Pulling over a chair of her own Kurenai plopped down across from her and put her feet upon the table._

_"Found anything?"_

_Rin nodded. "A lot actually. Well for starters he's been here the whole time he's been missing so all these file should be brought back with us. His medical records show no illnesses or infections of any kind...ever. Must be his 'tenant' taking care of him. Stupid fuzz-ball's good for something I guess. In fact if it wasn't for him Naruto-kun may not be alive." She finished grimly._

_"Why is that?"_

_"Because those traitors have decided to turn him into a weapon. He's had numerous 'improvements' added through both surgery and mental conditioning."_

_Kurenai picked up a print-out and tried to understand all the graphs and numbers. _

_"Like what?"_

_"Oh man where do I start? Hmm...well you know that a regular person has three hundred and sixty-one chakra points, right? Well through some warped parody of the standard chakra healing jutsu's that seal wounds in the chakra circulatory system, the medics here have actually added more chakra points. Now Naruto-kun has four hundred chakra points. This is probably to help him manage his own large chakra capacity and take care of any flux from the Kyuubi's chakra. As well as this they've altered his brain chemistry in the area of his brain associated with personality."_

_"Do what?"_

_"They deliberately gave him Multiple Personality Disorder."_

_"Why would they do that?"_

_"I don't know but I do know it has something to do with that collar. Look familiar?" She passed Kurenai a pile of close-ups of the collar. She saw what Rin was talking about when she saw a close up of the inside of the collar._

_"Suppression seals?"_

_"Bingo. From the look of them they keep his other personality suppressed while he wears the collar. Kurenai if we're going to take Naruto-kun home then we need to talk to this other personality before we let him out into public. It says here he's been using the Kage Bunshin training method since he was first able to channel chakra at age three for twelve hours a day, everyday. Look at his teachers; Lohiko, Johi, Anida. Some of the best ROOT has to offer and they're all teaching him. By now this side of Naruto-kun is easily Jounin level, maybe even Kage level."_

_"Then what the hell are we supposed to do? ROOT trains it's members to be totally emotionless and totally loyal. If we can't break that loyalty then Naruto will be put in a cell for the rest of his life."_

_It was at this point Rin's face broke into a smug grin._

_"Oh I don't think that'll be a problem. Look at this." She passed Kurenai a letter that had only arrived a few days earlier, if the date was anything to go by. Kurenai read over it before she looked up at Rin, confused._

_"'Project Fox to be terminated following charges of severe insubordination and refusal to follow orders. Project Fox considered too dangerous to continue'. What the hell?"_

_"That's what the base commander thought as well so he sent a letter back to Danzou trying to find out what was going on." Rin started to chuckle. "Turns out Danzou tried to get Naruto-kun to assassinate the Sandaime."_

_Kurenai frowned. "I don't see that that is something to laugh about Rin. If Naruto is as strong as you say then Hokage-sama could have been in serious trouble."_

_Still grinning Rin answered, "You aren't listening to me. I said he _tried_ to get Naruto-kun to assassinate the old man. Apparently Naruto-kun refused point blank to follow his orders." She started laughing again._

_Kurenai blinked. Now she was even more confused. "Wait that doesn't make sense ROOT operatives are taught to follow orders to the letter from a young age. For one to refuse to follow orders is unheard of."_

_Rin just laughed louder. "Yeah but Danzou thought too far ahead. While he was training Naruto-kun he was already imagining himself as Hokage and that his little coup would work so he taught Naruto-kun to give his loyalty to Konoha and the Hokage _not _to ROOT and it's commander."_

_Kurenai started to smile as well. "So he just stopped following Danzou's orders?"_

_"Yeah, actually it's been a long time coming. There are transcripts from all Naruto-kun's mission briefings and de-briefings and a few months ago he started to question orders, saying that they were hurting Konoha more and more and that wasn't what Leaf shinobi stood for. Finally when he was told to kill off the Hokage he realised that they were not working for Konoha's benefit he told Danzou to fuck off!"_

_Now Kurenai was laughing. "He said that?"_

_Rin just shrugged. "Well not in so many words, but still..."_

_Kurenai just shook her head and said, "He really is his father's son."_

_"Yeah. They were both bad at following orders."_

_The women's laughter drew Genma over from his squad. "And what's got you two hitting a giggle fit?"_

_Kurenai looked over her shoulder at him and winked. "Disobedient blondes."_

_Genma just smiled. "Yeah well Konoha been without one of those for a few years so what do you say we pack up and head out?"_

_"Absolutely," Rin said as she stood. "Feels like forever since I've had some sweet ramen."_

_Kurenai just shook her head. "I don't care how good a Hokage he was, I still say Minato was a bad influence on you."_

*******//Flashback End no jutsu//*******

The Hokage turned to sound of knocking at his office door and called, "Enter."

The door swung open to admit the now grown up Kakashi. He hadn't changed much over the years, his silver hair still stood at that gravity defying angle, his forehead protector still covered his Sharingan eye, most of his face still covered by a black mask. In fact the only things that had changed where the standard Jounin uniform that replaced his ANBU one and the copy of Icha Icha Paradise that appeared to be glued to his hand.

"We're ready downstairs Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded and together they walked down to a rather deserted corridor on the first floor of the Hokage tower. They walked up to a door marked 'janitor's closet' and went inside. The room was rather dusty and filled with cans of paint, bleach, mops and other maintenance equipment and lit by a single flickering light bulb. Sarutobi reached up and tightened the bulb so there would be uninterrupted light and as he faced a pile of boxes stacked against the wall. Biting his thumb he preformed five hand seals and slammed his palm into the pile of boxes which caused it, and part of the wall behind it, to swing open revealing a set of stairs leading into an under ground tunnel. This door was one of fifty spread out across Konoha camouflaged as everything from wishing wells to barrels and paintings to waterfalls. The only people who know of their location are ANBU agents and the Hokage. Even Jounin who haven't been in ANBU can only enter if they are being escorted by an ANBU. The tunnel complex serves as the HQ of the ANBU and, during a war, is used as Command Central. The tunnels run under every street in Konoha and branch out into the surrounding forest, which allows them to be used for covert movements during peace-time and can be vital for offence or defence during an invasion.

The Hokage and the Jounin walked down the tunnel, passing the odd ANBU or office, until they finally came to the maximum security wing of the Torture and Interrogation department. Ignoring the screams coming from behind some of the doors, they stopped outside of cell 246 before they were waved in by the guards.

The Interrogation cells aren't built for comfort; they consist of cement walls, ceiling and floor stained with the blood, sweat and urine of countless victims, the vile fluids left to drain through a metal grill in the floor. This particular cell at the moment was filled with ANBU standing at ease, but on guard, against the walls. In the very centre of the was a stainless steel table with three chairs. One was occupied by Yuhi Kurenai, still in full uniform. And another was taken by Naruto, minus his shirt and sandals but still wearing his collar and pants, who also had cuffs around his hands and legs securing him firmly in place. Rin stood at attention over his right shoulder.

Sarutobi stood with a smile as he took in the sight of the boy he hadn't seen for thirteen years. His face was fine and handsome, any traces of baby fat was removed thanks to years of hard training, with his sun kissed blond hair falling around his face. His body was toned but not overly so, with the faint outline of a six-pack and other muscles, his body was built for flexibility, speed and power. Even though they were invisible right now the guards found storage seals on the underside of each wrist, empty of course, capable of holding fifty shuriken or twenty-five kunai each. Just by looking at him Sarutobi could tell that when he fought, Naruto had a good balance of taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu, not relying on any one of them as most do. The boy wasn't overly tall for his age but he certainly wasn't short.

Dear god he looked just like his father.

Taking the last remaining seat Sarutobi folded his hands in front of him and started, "Well Fox. Welcome to Konoha. I assure you these surroundings are just temporary and we'll get you on your way soon. Do you know who I am?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, you're the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen."

"That's right and do you know why you're here?"

"Kurenai-san said you wanted to check out my collar."

"Yes, but before we do I'd like you to tell me anything you can about your collar."

"Uh, I don't know...I've always had it since I was a kid, I always wear it and whenever it gets taken of I black out but if I try to take it off it won't budge."

Sarutobi nodded then said, "You say you don't know you Masters name but can you give us a description?"

"Sure. He was old, he had one arm, bandages over his face and body with two scars on his chin that crossed each other and he walked with a cane and a limp."

_'That just confirms my suspicion that it was Danzou. I should have known to keep an eye on him when the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto.'_

"Um, can I ask something?"

Sarutobi looked back at Naruto. "Of course."

"When we're done here are you gonna send me back?"

The old Hokage raised and eyebrow. "Do you want to go back?"

"Not really, I mean they took care of me and I'm grateful but..."

Kurenai leaned forward slightly to look him in the eye. "But?"

"My Master was kind of mean sometimes. There was this doctor that used to look after me, Dr Nika I think her name was, and one day my Master came to see her. He was mad. He was saying something about a test subject failing. She was crying and asking him to give her another chance. He just said 'failure is not an option' and then his two guards killed her! I really liked her too."

"Well don't worry, you don't need to go back. Now if there's nothing else we should check that collar of yours, okay?"

Naruto nodded and bared his throat and allowed Sarutobi to examine the rather simple device. It was built to survive the elements, being made of thick leather and the band was about an inch wide, with a metal clasp holding it closed with two 'D' shaped rings on either side of the clasp. The suppression seals would be on the inside of the collar so as not to attract attention. Sarutobi took in every detail before he nodded.

"Now Fox we're going to take it off and see what happens, okay?"

Naruto gulped then nodded once. Sarutobi gestured to Kurenai and she moved forward. The ANBU tensed as soon as she moved; they had all been informed of his skills and the fact that he had received orders to kill the Hokage and they weren't taking any chances. The collar came loose with a sharp click and Naruto's body slumped in his chair, his head down. Like a puppet with it's strings cut. For a moment the only sound in the cell was Naruto's steady breathing before Kurenai broke the silence.

"Fox?"

Naruto's head snapped up and Kurenai gasped. His eyes were empty. No anger, no fear...nothing. It was as if they were dead, all trace of emotion was gone, replaced by cold, unforgiving pits. It was as if someone else was wearing his form.

And that someone would kill without mercy or regret.

"Are...are you okay Fox?"

"I'm fine Kurenai-san." His voice was a cold monotone.

Sarutobi cleared his throat. "Fox? I was wondering if you could answer some questions."

Naruto sat up straight and nodded.

"Well first I would like to know what you did while you were a member of ROOT."

"I was the top agent and bodyguard for the ROOT commander Danzou."

"What duties did you have while you served Danzou?"

"I preformed important missions for Commander Danzou that his other agents lacked the skills and/or experience for."

"Could you elaborate?"

"Of course. All the missions I took part in were S-ranked or above. They included assassination, infiltration, espionage, item retrieval, securing hostages, demolition, delivering high class orders and leading special investigations as well as protecting Commander Danzou."

Sarutobi sat quietly taking all this in. Finally he asked, "Could you give me a run down of your skills?"

Naruto thought about this for a moment before he answered. "I received top marks for my taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu. I'm proficient in using swords, shuriken, kunai, hanbo, bo-staffs, kamas, scythes, fuuma shuriken and senbon. I'm slightly above average in fuuinjutsu but there was no seal master in ROOT to study under so I could be better. I am a very capable tracker and my skills in setting traps are passable. My chakra control is high-Jounin level. Also I have a wide knowledge of poison and antidotes. I am also able to pick low to high grade locks."

"Is that all?" Kakashi asked sarcastically..

Naruto's eyes flicked to him before he added, "I'm good at gambling."

A few sweat-dropped at that and Sarutobi cleared his throat. "That's quite a resume. One last question; why did you go against Danzou's orders?"

Quite a few perked up at this. Many had their own theories as to why, and indeed how, the boy had turned against the fanatic devotion Danzou had instilled in all his ROOT soldiers but everyone wanted to hear the truth for themselves.

Naruto took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he started. "Since I can remember I have been taught that dedication and loyalty to one's village is one of the most important things for a ninja to possess. I have been taught that my life means little when compared to the honour of the village and if it is called for I will die to protect it. I know ninja lead a deadly, and often short life but I gain solace in the knowledge that when I die it will be as someone who died protecting their home. Commander Danzou had not been acting in a manner befitting of a Leaf ninja. He has been warping the minds of the men and women under his command to further his own goals. He thinks more of how to gain power than how to improve the way of life for the village under his protection. He taught me that all who go against their home should be punished more severely than any other for they are the worst kind of trash. Since the age of six I have been performing missions in the thought that, even though I wasn't in the village, I was being the best Leaf ninja I could be and in some small way was making Konoha a better place. However I was surprised when several months ago I was told to obtain a scroll from _inside_ the village and return it to the base without anyone seeing me. I was confused and asked him why he couldn't just obtain it himself as it would be a simple matter for someone of his reputation and position. He said that he needed it for his plans for the village and it would not be good if certain people know he had taken the scroll. When I asked what he meant he simply said 'Sometimes the tree must be cut down so that new life could spring fourth from the foundation' and sent me on my way. I didn't think on it for too long and returned to my normal routine. A few weeks later he called me to his chamber again and told me I had a mission. I was to accompany a squad and intercept a Leaf squad transporting a prisoner to Konoha. Danzou said that he was a traitor and that he was to stand trial but there was fear that he would get off free of charge and would be free to cause Konoha more harm so he was to be intercepted and killed. Again I was curious but said nothing. We caught up with the squad a few says later. As per our orders we disguised ourselves as missing-nin from Kusa and attacked. We captured the prisoner and began to make our escape when one of the Leaf nin blocked the way. I thought we would simply knock him out but the next thing I knew one of the ROOT members launched a particularly lethal Raiton jutsu, wounding the Leaf nin severely. We killed the prisoner in a clearing and burned the body."

He stopped for a moment before continuing.

"Over the next few months Danzou ordered more and more missions against Konoha, always claiming to be 'working for Konoha's benefit' and the whole time I was getting more uncomfortable with the idea of attacking fellow Leaf nin."

His face darkened and a few of the ANBU felt chills run down their spines. "One month ago Danzou sent for me again. He had a 'special mission of the utmost importance' for me. When I entered his personal chambers he was sitting behind his desk. He told me that I was going on a mission that would change the very future of Konoha. I asked what it was and he looked me in the eye and said 'you will go to Konohagakure and you will assassinate the Sandaime Hokage'. I was shocked. Assassinate the _Hokage_? He must have been joking. He told me that it was time I served my purpose and lead Konoha into a new age where all the Elemental Nations were under the rule of the Leaf. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and I demanded to know what was going on. He told me all of it. The failed coup, ROOT being forced out and the ongoing skirmishes with the village. It was then that I realized that I had become what I always promised myself I would never become; the worst kind of trash, a traitor. I was betrayed and I saw only one way to correct that mistake; I drew my sword and charged. I was determined to make that traitor pay for what he done...for what I'd done. I was about to sever his head when I was attacked by other ROOT members. I tried to fight but was overpowered. Danzou just looked at me and said that I was a traitor to the Leaf, put my collar back on and I was taken away to my cell where I would have been killed and my body studied. I would have died if that Leaf attack force had not found the base. So the only thing left for me is either to die here as a traitor or fight ROOT until my dieing breath. One last chance to fix my mistakes and atone for my sins is all I ask. Can you give me that chance Hokage-sama?" he bowed low to Sarutobi.

The room was quiet as he finished. Some couldn't believe the story they had just been told, others angry that Danzou had turned on them and had used what was without a doubt one of the most loyal ninja the leaf had produced in the last decade. All, however, were moved by his sincerity in his words; this boy was truly devastated by what he'd done. Even though his voice never changed from that steady monotone they could tell when he was angry and could hear the sorrow in his voice as he confessed his crimes..

Sarutobi, Kurenai, Rin and Kakashi just stared at the boy. They had thought that this other personality would be the pinnacle of the ROOT forces; totally convicted to Danzou and his ambitions. But what they had just witnessed was the exact opposite; the boy loved Konoha, a village he'd never even seen until he was tricked into stealing from it, and he was willing to die to protect it.

Kurenai had tears in her eyes. The look he'd had in his eyes was the same look she'd seen in the eyes of her former team mate. Watching him speak about the village she saw the same fire that both Minato and Kushina possessed; a willingness to do everything they could to protect their home. _'Minato...Kushina...your son truly will do you proud.'_

Sarutobi watched the boy throughout his story and only one emotion was present within the old Hokage's heart.

Pride.

Sarutobi felt pride rushing through his body as the boy declared to do what he could against Danzou, vowing to do what he could to keep the people of Konoha safe from the old war hawk's bloody ambitions. Even at this young age Sarutobi could tell that this boy would one day help guide the village into a new era of peace, maybe even as it's Hokage. _'Naruto my boy...you, without a doubt have inherited, the Will of Fire.'_

"Fox."

Naruto lifted his head to look the Sandaime in the eye.

"You have shown commendable loyalty to both me and to your village. I do not believe that you attacked fellow Leaf ninja for any malicious purpose or for your own gain and I believe that if you could you would have stopped Danzou before he could do any harm to our home. I believe that with your help we can stop these traitors and bring peace to our land. So if you are willing I will absolve you of all crimes and enlist you as a Konoha shinobi to help protect this village for the rest of your life. Do you accept?"

The only hint of any reaction to his words was another low bow to the Hokage, Fox's face keeping it's passive stare. "Arigato, Hokage-sama."

"Well that should be-"

"Actually Hokage-sama there is one more thing I need to tell you."

Sarutobi leaned forward to lean on the table. "Oh, what?"

"It's about my other personality, the one Kurenai-san spoke to in the ROOT base. Over time as this body grows older the two personalities will...merge I suppose you could call it. We will cease to be two separate personalities and become one, we will each gain the others memories and skills but we will become a new person. I would also prefer if my other half was trained as a ninja."

Sarutobi's eyebrows shot up. "He's not trained?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. Danzou thought that if I rebelled and he could get the collar back on I would be helpless. He was right." He muttered the last part in mild disgust.

Sarutobi nodded. "Okay. But one of you will have to be the dominant personality. People are bound to get suspicious if your personality keep changing."

"The other personality shall be the dominant one. He should fit in more with children my age. If there's trouble that my other self can't handle with his training take the collar off. Also we should have different names as to avoid confusion. I'll still be known as Fox but what will the other personality be known as?"

"How about Naruto?"

All eyes turned to Rin as she spoke. She blushed slightly at all the attention but said, "We could call him Naruto."

Sarutobi, Kurenai and Kakashi all smiled at this; it was a way to protect the boy and return that little piece of their lives that went missing all those years ago.

"Yes that's a good name. We'll call him Naruto."

The newly re-named Fox nodded after a moment of thought. "Yes that should work."

Sarutobi nodded at Rin who moved forward and pulled out the keys to the shackles around the boy's wrists and ankles. As they fell away Fox stood up slowly stretching, not wanting to startle his new allies with any sudden movement. As the ANBU filed out of the cell Fox reached forward and picked up his collar. He looked at it for a few seconds.

"Maybe now I can put things right."

He said it more to himself than the others. He put the collar around his neck but before he clicked it together he looked at Sarutobi and spoke. "Don't tell Naruto about me yet, he'll know soon enough."

With that he clicked the collar closed and his world went black.

**

* * *

**

**A/N: A lot of talking I know! Don't worry the action will start in the next few chapters but I needed to give the info in this one. Chapters may become longer in the future. **

**PS: I can't deicde on a weapon for Naruto. I don't want the one's that Fox said he'd already mastered so I will have a poll on my profile. The next chapter won't come out until I decide on Naruto's new piece. Ja ne!**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: *sigh* No, I still don't own Naruto (The Monkey Ninjas have turned on me and have taken over the entire second floor of my house. Now I must fight to reclaim it. But be prepared for my new Ghost Assassins! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!)

**A/N: Yes I did refine the idea of the collar from Jet Li's 'Unleashed'. I couldn't remember the name of the movie so thanks Blackmoon7875 and Ranmawho1 for reminding me!**

* * *

Naruto woke with a groan as he felt something burning his eyes. When he opened them he saw something he had never in all his life seen. He saw the sky. He'd seen pictures and read descriptions of it in books but he had never seen the real thing. As he looked around he saw that he was in someone's bedroom. It was rather plain with cream wallpaper and dark wooden borders. The carpet was a warm red and the pine wardrobe was against the wall across from a desk and chair with the bed against the back wall facing what he recognised as the Hokage monument. After a moment of wondering why he was in Konoha it all came back to him.

_'Oh yeah! That Kurenai lady said that they were taking me back to their village with them. Wow so that's what Konoha really looks like. Thought...why have I got a feeling of deja-vu? Man, last thing I remember I was talking to the Hokage and then he took off my collar and then...'_

Finding no memory of what happened after that Naruto decided to find out where he was. Throwing the covers to the side he noticed that he was now dressed in simple dark blue pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt. He made his way out of the room and into a short hallway. To his left there was a closed door and directly across from him was the open door to the bathroom. Following the hallway he came out into a rather large living room. The floor was made of polished wood with the same wallpaper and borders as the bedroom. Plush rugs were laid out on the floor and on one side of the room large windows, that ran from the floor to the ceiling, led out to a balcony. In the middle of the wall across from him was an ornate fireplace. There was a large 48" inch TV in the corner with a tan leather couch and chair facing it, with a low coffee table in front of them. The walls were adorned with a few pictures and paintings. In the corner opposite the windows was a small, but well furnished, kitchen. The marble countertops gleamed in the light and the utilities were all a dull chrome. A small table stood in the centre of the kitchen area.

And standing there in simple red pants and a long-sleeved white shirt stood Kurenai, standing over the stove which was emitting a tantalizing smell.

"Morning." She called.

"Uh...good morning Kurenai-san."

"I hope you don't mind bacon and eggs for breakfast?" She asked him, tilting the pan to show him the bacon, sizzling away.

"I've never actually tried it. All they let me eat at the base was rations and nutrient supplements." He hadn't moved from the hallway.

"Well," She said as she put the food onto plates. "I'm sure you'll like it, regardless."

"Kurenai-san?"

"Yes?"

"What am I doing here?"

She stared at him a moment, confused, before it dawned on her; he had no recollection of the conversation they had with Fox. "You said you didn't want to go back to your Master, right?"

"Right."

"Well Sarutobi-sama and I had a discussion and we agreed to let you live here and train you as a ninja."

Naruto's eyes widened. He was going to be a ninja! He'd always read about them and thought they were cool and now he was going to be one!

"Really!? That's awesome! But where am I going to stay?"

She cocked and eyebrow. "I just said you'll stay here."

His looked at her, shocked. "Kurenai-san I can't just-"

She cut him off. "Yes you can. I was the one that suggested it. You'll live here, I will be recognised as your legal guardian and I, along with a few other Jounin, will train you to be a ninja."

He shut his mouth. He found it odd that she would let a perfect stranger move in with her but felt touched that she would place such faith in him and he vowed not to let her down.

"We good now?"

"Hai Kurenai-san."

"And drop the -san, we're room mates now; no need to be so formal. That reminds me, to keep you hidden from your old Master we decided to change your name; from now on you'll be known as Uzumaki Naruto." She watched him to measure his reaction.

He thought on it for a while. _'Naruto...Narutooooo...Na-ru-to...hmm, sounds cool.'_

He grinned as he nodded. "I like it!"

She smiled. "Good, now get over here and eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

He walked over and sat at the table with her. Skewering a piece of bacon he sniffed it and finding the smell to be rather tempting he took a bite.

Oh. My. God.

He'd never tasted anything like this before, the flavours causing his mouth to drool and the taste of the juices, the food at the base was shown up in every way, shape and form by this and he promised himself he would never go back to eating rations.

"This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" He exclaimed, as he dove back in for more.

Kurenai smiled a small, sad smile. _'God just how much has he been denied in his life? To get a reaction like that from some simple bacon. Not anymore. I'm going to show you all the things in life you've been missing out on.'_

The rest of the meal was finished in a comfortable silence before Kurenai told him to get ready. When he asked what for she told him they were going to get his new things and training equipment.

Naruto emerged from his room clad in black sandals and loose black pants, held up by a black belt with a silver buckle in the shape of the Leaf symbol. He also had a white shirt with a large red spiral on the back and a slightly smaller one on the front. After Kurenai changed into a rather strange dress made up of strips of silk with a thorn pattern on them and a red sleeve on her right arm, she and Naruto left the apartment.

The day was bright, hardly a cloud in the sky, a cool breeze blew by them as they made their way to the market district. Konohagakure was, as the name suggested, 'The Village Hidden in the Leaves'. The trees grew everywhere; beside the buildings, on top of the buildings, sometimes they were _part_ of the buildings. The streets were wide and, to an outsider, could be confusing; it was all part of the design, a simple but effective way to confuse enemy troops in the event of an invasion. To the east stood the Hokage Monument, a great cliff overlooking Konoha was one of the major, if not _the_ major, landmarks in the Land of Fire, carved into the solid rock were the faces of all the Hokage. At the base of the Monument was the Hokage's office. The village had a bustling shopping scene and nearly a third of the village was taken up by stores and nightclubs, the rest taken up by the clan compounds, residential areas, offices, training areas, the Konoha Arena and parks.

Naruto and Kurenai walked down the high street, passing stores that sold products for the villagers as well as the ninja. They came to a stop in front of one of the more famous ninja clothing stores and went in. Naruto, having no knowledge of fashion, just let Kurenai pick out whatever she wanted and went with it. In the end they left with five pairs of shirts with the same design as the one he was wearing but in different colours, a few long-sleeved fishnet shirts, a replacement pair of black sandals and a few more pairs of pants. When Naruto asked who was paying for the clothes Kurenai told him the Hokage was covering the cost.

Next they moved on to get furnishings for his new room. They didn't need much so they just picked out some new sheets with a detailed leaf pattern covering it and matching pillow cases, some all-purpose hooks to hang his equipment on, a bookshelf, some red drapes that matched his carpet and even a few posters of famous past Leaf ninja. After getting some books that he would study they stopped at the destination Naruto was most looking forward to.

The weapons store.

'The Armoury' was Konoha's premier weapons store. Run by famed weapon user Rihoru Bunji, 'The Armoury' was the weapon store of choice for many of Konoha's ninja. Ninja clans from all over the Land of Fire would order from his store and rumour has it that the Fire Lord had his bodyguards armour and weapons commissioned from Bunji. It was quite large, more like a small warehouse than a store, every wall was taken up by chrome shelves with racks upon racks of weapons, lit from above by bright lights. The floor was split up into five long aisles with the counter taking up the entire back wall.

Needless to say the owner was rather wealthy.

Kurenai and Naruto walked up to the counter and rang the bell. After a moment an employee came out from the back. She was dressed in a uniform of a blue shirt and pants with white sneakers. She had medium length purple hair and a nose piercing.

"Hi can I help you?"

"Yes," Kurenai spoke. "We need a few starter pieces for training. We need twenty shuriken, twenty kunai, some weights and maybe a weapon."

"Okay."

The clerk led them around the aisles showing them the different styles of kunai and shuriken. In the end Naruto settled for normal black kunai but chose some wicked looking five-point shuriken. After taking Naruto's measurements the clerk left to get his weights while they looked at weapons.

What a bother.

Nearly every weapon was passed up; some Naruto just couldn't picture himself using, some he couldn't use because he didn't have the right body or height. Strangely though, some gave him a 'been there, done that' feeling; as if he'd used them before and that it wouldn't be fun to learn to use them. These included swords, bo-staffs and senbon among others so he passed them up. Even after the clerk came back he still hadn't decided. He was about to give up and was just turning around to tell Kurenai that he couldn't decide on one when he saw them.

Two non-reflective black trench knives. They were full-tang with the part of the bade over the knuckles being more serrated than the rest of the smooth blade, all of which gave of a silver glow which contrasted sharply with the dull black. Practically drooling Naruto made his way over and picked them up, somehow managing to get out, "I pick these.". Over his shoulder Kurenai grinned. She knew just who could help train him to use those knives.

After paying for their purchases, they left to get something to eat.

* * *

There have been many famous ninja teams throughout Konoha's history. Some like the Sannin and Team Yuzuki were world known while others like the Fourth Hokage's team and ANBU Thirteen were feared in select countries like Iwa and Kusa. They all had one thing in common though and that was excellent teamwork. However few have ever reached the level of unity that the famed Ino-Shika-Cho trio have. They weren't a team, they were a family. Every Sunday the old team and their families met up and had lunch. Today they decided to meet up at the Akimichi Family Restaurant.

"-and then the guy turns to me, pants torn to hell, and says 'I think she wants a refund'!"

The restaurant was filled with the sound of laughter as Yamanaka Inoichi finished telling of his latest mission to the Land of Tea. The Yamanaka head was seated at the table between his wife Yasu and his daughter Ino.

Yamanaka Ino, you could say, was a typical teenage girl. She would fuss over cloths, her figure, her lazy friends Shikamaru and Chouji, make-up, school and a number of other things that would earn Inoichi a free drink at the bar. But for the last few years there has been one topic that has persisted; Uchiha Sasuke. Yes, Ino had a lot to say about the Uchiha heir such as how he was so cool, how handsome he was, how she would not loose him to her rival Sakura. In fact she had so much to say about the boy that sometimes Inoichi considered sending Itachi a letter asking his to come back and finish what he started. Anyway, back to the meal.

"So you kids ready for your final term at the academy?" Shikaku asked as he lazily ate his steak.

"Yeah as long as it isn't too troublesome." Came his son Shikamaru's drawl from were he sat, sucking his cola through a straw.

"Should be fun. Kinda sad that it's our last year though." Chouji added his two ryo from behind a pile of chicken.

"It should be okay as long as Forehead doesn't try to steal _my_ Sasuke-kun." Ino looked up from her salad to answer. Shikaku and Chouza smiled in sympathy as Inoichi's eyebrow twitched.

"Well you better get into your work or you'll fail the exam." The Akimichi matriarch, Ona, warned.

"The exam is a sham. How are book smarts supposed to help in a fight?"

"You never know. A little knowledge could be a big help."

As the debate on how useless the exam was raged on the bell sounded, announcing a new customer. Kurenai and Naruto entered the restaurant and went to place their orders. After they were done they were just about to look for a table when a voice called out to them.

"Yo Kurenai! Come here and sit with us!" Inoichi called. He'd seen her come in and decided that he'd invite her over. He'd heard that she was back and that she'd found something interesting on her last mission. He wasn't being nosey, she was a friend too but he couldn't help but wonder. Yamanaka's were natural information gatherers and it was in their blood to try know everything. He had no idea who the kid was but he looked familiar.

Ino followed her father's gaze and saw who he was talking to. Kurenai was a family friend, both she and Ino's mother had a passion for gardening, and had even been over for dinner a few times. She also knew that she was on the Fourth's team when he was a Genin and Ino wanted to be a strong Kunoichi like her one day. She then noticed the boy behind her and her eyes widened. She'd never seen him around the village before. He was tall with sun kissed hair and sparkling blue eyes. His arms were well toned and when he moved you could catch a hint of muscle under his shirt. His face was mature and sculpted and he had three cute whisker marks on each cheek which gave him an exotic look. Ino had to fight to keep her blush down.

"Hey guys." Kurenai said as she sat down. After a moment of nervous hesitation Naruto sat next to her. "How's it going?"

"It's going. Heard you hit that ROOT base at the border. How'd it go?"

"Your the head of the Information Division shouldn't you know how it went?"

"Nah, just got back from a B-rank in the Land of Tea late last night. Haven't had a chance to go to the office."

"Well," She said as she took a sip of sake. "We found something...interesting."

After a moment of silence Inoichi prodded. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"What did you find?"

"When?"

"Kurenai!"

Kurenai laughed at her friend's pout. Messing with Inoichi was one of her favourite pass-times.

"You'll find out soon enough." Was all she would say.

Inoichi huffed and crossed his arms. He hated it when she got all secretive like that. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced at the boy sitting beside her. He looked damn familiar but he couldn't place him. Deciding to go out on a limb he just came out and asked.

"So kid what's your name? Never seen you around here before and I know just about everybody." He started drinking his sake while he waited for an answer. Everybody else at the table perked up a this as they too wondered who the boy was. Glancing at Kurenai and getting her nod of approval Naruto answered.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Kurenai wished she had a camera to capture the scene; Inoichi spat his mouthful of sake over Shikamaru, a piece of sushi shot out from between Shikaku's chopsticks, hitting Ino on the forehead and sticking to it and Chouza started choking on his chicken and pounded on his chest to try and get it down. The wives and children all looked at them with confusion while Kurenai had to bite the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing. The Jounin looked at Naruto, then each other, then at Naruto again before finally bombarding Kurenai with questions.

"What happened?"

"Where was he?"

"How'd you find him?"

"Guys, I can't say anything, you just have to ask the Hokage." Kurenai calmed them with a wave of her hand. Slumping in their chairs slightly. Any further questions were silenced as more food, along with that of Kurenai and Naruto, arrived. They began to eat in peace before Ino began her traditional 'interrogate the hot new guy' routine.

"So Naruto I've never seen you around Konoha before, where are you from?"

Luckily for Naruto he and Kurenai spent the morning coming up with what would soon be a good background story while they were shopping and they planned to perfect it over the next few days. He felt that they could get by with what they came up with so far so he went with it.

"I've been living with a family friend for most of my life. I'm back to train to be a ninja."

Ino cocked her head to one side, confused.

"But the academy beginners age is nine and you look like you're as old as me so how can you join the academy?"

It was Kurenai who answered this time. "He's not going to the academy, Ino. I'm going to be training him until the exam then he's going to take it with you three."

Ino was shocked. "But...but that's six months away! How can he learn four years of academy stuff that quickly?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned a foxy grin. "I'm a quick learner."

Seeing that grin, Ino had to fight down yet another blush. She shook her head and looked at him, wondering how smart he must be if he could learn in six months what had taken them four years. She wasn't the only one. Everyone else at the table was surprised that someone claimed they could get through the academy after just six months. After that dinner progressed rather normally, with Naruto being introduced to the three clans, listening to the stories of past missions and the children's life at the academy. He took note of their appearance; Shikamaru wore a grey vest over a mesh shirt, Chouji had a white scarf and green coat with the kanji for 'Eat' on his shirt and Ino wore a two piece purple dress over some bandages. He found it rather weird; with no prior experience with children his own age, or just other people for that matter, he had no idea what to say so he did the only thing he could do; sit quietly and try to fit in.

This didn't go unnoticed by Kurenai. She knew it was going to be hard for him to relate to others, especially kids his own age. That was another thing Danzou had taken from him. She wanted to help him get to know his peers but it would be difficult considering his special case. She sighed. There was so much he'd missed out on in life, things he should...no, things he _needed_ in order to have a relatively normal life and one of those things was human contact. She had a few idea's on how to fix this but she'd look into them later, first she needed to train him.

After the meal was done everyone split up, heading for their respective homes. The sun was low now casting an orange hue over the village and as they walked down the street leading to their apartment Naruto yawned as he reflected on the past day. He couldn't remember ever laughing that much or having that much delicious food. Without a doubt it was the best day of his life and he was a little sad that it was over.

"Kurenai."

"Hm?"

"I just wanted to say thanks. Today's been great. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. Heh, I don't think I've _ever_ had this much fun so...thanks." He scratched the back of his head.

Kurenai smiled and ruffled his hair. "No problem. This is what you're life is going to be like from now on Naruto. Enjoy it."

Naruto smiled back and together they continued on home.

They had training to prepare for.

* * *

If Kurenai ever had any doubts that Naruto wouldn't be ready for the Genin exam before then they were dispelled now.

To say he had talent would be an understatement; he took to it like a fish to water. His chakra control was perfect, as it should be with all those extra chakra points, so exercises like tree walking and water walking he could do without apparent thought. He did have a little trouble at first since this personality had never used chakra before but Fox's extensive training made up for it. So with chakra control taken care of and with Naruto in charge of his own studying (Not that Kurenai thought he needed it, he seemed to know it all already anyway) and him already being in peak physical condition the only things they needed to work on was his jutsu arsenal, kenjutsu, taijutsu and stealth. Not that hard at all. She had managed to round up some Jounin who were willing to help train him; Kakashi offered to teach him a jutsu or two that Naruto wouldn't get from his books, Asuma agreed to help him with his trench knives (After ranting for a while because someone finally realised how cool they were), Rin wanted to teach him a few medical jutsu, she would train him in genjutsu, she had somehow convinced Anko to help with stealth and Maito Gai agreed to help fan Naruto's Flames of Youth into an inferno (meaning he'd help too).

All in all it was going well.

Right now they were going to meet Gai and his team at their training ground. Kurenai had done this for every teacher Naruto had; she would come along on the first day of training, introduce him to his teacher, see how they got on and then she left. She began easy; since he'd already met her, Naruto began his training with Rin first. Then a few days later they moved onto Asuma then Kakashi a few days after that. It was two weeks before she introduced him to Anko. That introduction consisted of Anko chasing Naruto around the training field with kunai and snakes to 'test' him. Naruto jamp at every loud noise for the rest of the week, fearing that Anko wanted to 'play' again.

So, after gradually introducing Naruto to his teachers, each more eccentric than the last, they came to the king of all oddballs; the spandex-clad taijutsu specialist of Konoha, Maito Gai.

Reaching Training Area 4 they leaped over the fence and walked through the trees for a few minutes they came to a wide open clearing with three training posts, each being three meters thick, a few targets attached to the trees and small bench in front of a lake, most likely used for meditation. The clearing was empty so they decided to wait by the posts, with Kurenai leaning against one and Naruto sitting on top of another. After ten minutes of waiting Naruto got bored and decided to try and balance one handed on top of the post. Kurenai watched him out of the corner of her eye and smiled. After another few minutes they saw what appeared to be a dust storm approaching, followed by a slightly smaller dust storm. The first cloud reached them and sent Kurenai and Naruto (still balancing) into a coughing fit. No sooner had they stopped coughing than the second cloud reached them and made them start all over again. When the dust cleared Naruto nearly fell of the post.

There, standing in plain sight without a hint of shame or embarrassment were two of the weirdest ninja to ever grace the earth. They both wore bright neon green spandex bodysuits (which thankfully weren't too snug), both had the same perfectly shaped bowl cuts, both wore their forehead protectors as belts and both had, without a doubt, _the _biggest eyebrows ever created by Kami. Naruto tried to understand what the hell they were shouting about...

"YOSH! What a most youthful way to start the day! Lee my boy! That was close but your Flames of Youth must burn brighter if you wish to win against me!"

"Yes! Gai-sensei!"

"Now to cool down let us do one-hundred push-ups! If I fail to do that I will do one-thousand laps around the village on my hands!"

"And if Gai-sensei fails to do that I will run to the border of Fire Country and back carrying a five-foot log seven times!"

"That's the spirit Lee!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

To top off this vision of creepiness they proceeded to man-hug, complete with a romantic sunset genjutsu. Naruto didn't try to dispel it. He couldn't; he was frozen. Fortunately a voice distracted him from this image.

"Lee! Gai-sensei! If you two could stop crying for a moment you would realize that you're scaring people."

A girl walked out from the tree line. She was about a year older than Naruto, with chocolate eyes and her dark brown hair tied in two buns. She wore a pink, sleeve-less, Chinese style shirt and a pair of dark green pants, with her forehead protector around her head. Following her was a Hyuuga. He had slightly effeminate features and wore a grey coat and black shorts and for some reason he had bandages covering his right arm and leg. Naruto could tell that he was a branch member as he wore his forehead protector on his head, unlike the main house members who wore them some other way or not at all, proudly proclaiming that they were of the illustrious main branch. His white eyes seemed cold and uninterested.

Gai looked up from his hug and saw a slightly annoyed Kurenai and a slightly pale Naruto (which was saying something as the blood was rushing to his head from the handstand). Jumping up, he called, "Good morning Kurenai-san! I hope you are well this fine day?"

Allowing a smile to break through she replied, "Yes Gai. But if I may ask what kept you?"

"Ah, I believe that is my fault; you see we were on our way here when I challenged my wondrous students to a race. While we were discussing the terms, my eternal rival Kakashi-"

Kurenai tuned him out after that; whenever Kakashi was involved, Gai would rant for a few moments about his 'cool and hip' rival. It seemed that Gai couldn't pass Kakashi in the street without issuing some absurd challenge. After thinking about what to make for dinner that night and wondering if the teriyaki chicken she picked up was fresh, she managed to catch the end of Gai's mini-speech.

"-but alas Kakashi managed to balance on his bull without dropping his egg while I fell. YOSH! I must train harder if I am to beat my honourable rival in future!"

"YOSH! GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"WELL ANYWAY," Kurenai interrupted before they could start to tear up again. "I'm here about our agreement."

A light bulb appeared to have flicked on in Gai's head. "Ah yes." He looked at Naruto. "This must be young Naruto."

Naruto flipped off the log and landed beside Kurenai, facing Gai. "Hai." He bowed slightly. "Nice to meet you."

Gai waved his hand. "No need to be so formal. After all we'll be teacher and pupil for the next few months."

This caught his students attention. "Gai-sensei?"

He turned to the bun haired girl. "Yes Tenten?

"What do you mean he'll be your pupil? I thought Jounin instructors could only have three Genin."

"That's true but there is no rule that says a Jounin can't help train someone for their Genin exam."

She looked at Naruto, surprised. "You're still in the academy?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well...no. In fact I'm not in the academy."

Tenten blinked. "Huh."

"I'm going to go to the academy for the exam but I'm not attending the academy."

"Oh."

"Yes, so we must do what we can for Naruto in the time we have. He will be training with us every Friday when we don't have a mission."

"If you'll excuse me Gai I just want to have a few words with Naruto before I leave." She dragged him over to the tree line and crouched in front of him to see his face. "Naruto I know Gai seems a little strange but he is one of the best taijutsu specialists that Konoha has ever produced so you should listen to everything he says, okay?"

"Okay Kurenai."

She nodded and looked over to where Gai was telling his students that they were in their springtime of youth, then looked back at Naruto.

"Another thing; you are near and dear to me but if I _ever_ see you wearing green spandex I will put you in my Yaoi genjutsu for the rest of the day."

Naruto shivered. That genjutsu was said to be the most evil of its kind in Konoha today. Naruto remembered one time after training, Asuma and he went back to the apartment for dinner and while Kurenai was setting the table Asuma lit one of his cigarettes. He never even saw Kurenai make any hand seals; Asuma just froze for a few seconds then fell over, shaking all over as Kurenai lectured him about smoking in her apartment.

Naruto had to help him home after the meal, but after telling a few male Jounin what happened Asuma was whisked off to the nearest bar for 'emergency treatment'.

"Don't worry."

Kurenai smiled and with a squeeze of his shoulder she took off through the trees. Naruto walked back to the other Genin as Gai prepared them for some sparring.

"Hey, so you'll really be with us for six whole months, huh?" The girl, Tenten, asked.

"Yeah, will that be a problem?"

"Nah, if anything you'll bring a little sanity to our team."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the clone of our sensei, Lee, enjoys training himself to death and the Hyuuga, Neji, has the personality of a spoon. So maybe you can bring a human element to our little group." She looked over at Gai and Lee, then back at Naruto. She seemed slightly nervous. "You're not going to turn into another one of them are you?"

Naruto shivered remembering Kurenai's promise. "If I do please grant me a quick death."

Tenten grinned. "I think we'll get along just fine."

"Well then!" Gai's voice sounded across the clearing. "The first thing we'll do is see how well Naruto does in a fight against Lee while Tenten and Neji practice the water walking exercise."

As Neji and Tenten left for the lake Naruto, Gai and Lee stood together. "Okay Naruto this is just a test to see how good your reflexes, stamina and flexibility."

Naruto nodded and stood across from Lee who smiled and said, "Naruto-kun let us do our best shall we?". Naruto smiled back as he got into a loose stance that Asuma taught him and waited for Lee to attack. He didn't have to wait long as the boy shot forward with a right hook aimed for his face. Naruto spun low to avoid it and extended his elbow to smash it into Lee's ribs but the spandex child hopped back, dodging the attack, only to come back in with a left kick that caught his head. Rolling with the blow Naruto managed to brace his hands on the ground and sweep his own leg up which Lee barely avoided. Jumping back up into his ready stance, Naruto rushed Lee, going for a kick to the knee which he easily jumped over but Naruto continued with the momentum of his kick and managed to bring his other leg up into Lee's gut in mid-air, knocking him onto his back. Springing up, Lee went for a jump kick which forced Naruto to bend over backwards to avoid. When he landed, Lee brought his right leg round in a low sweep and took Naruto's legs out from under him. He had to roll out of the way to avoid an axe kick to the sternum and he managed to get to his feet only to be sent down again by a spinning backhand. Getting to his feet once more Naruto was forced back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tree which he ran for, Lee hot on his tail. When he reached the tree Naruto ran up it, kicking off when he was two metres off the ground he caught Lee by surprise with a backwards flip kick. When he hit the ground he rolled to one side to avoid being trapped against the tree and was about to attack again when Gai's voice sounded across the field, calling them back.

"That was very well done, you should be proud of yourselves. Lee still good but you forgot to jump back when he tried to kick your knee so he couldn't follow through like he did."

"Hai, Gai-sensei!" Lee cried as he rote notes in a little notebook.

"Naruto that was very good; I didn't think you would hit Lee once never mind twice. Your Flames of Youth are an inspiration to us all."

"Uh...thanks?"

"Now I have noticed that you have good reflexes as to avoid Lee's attacks and counter them. You don't seem to even be out of breath so that shows you have high stamina. Also, in the fight you seemed to prefer using your elbows and legs rather than your fists. You are thin but powerfully built and flexible and your arms and legs provide you with some decent reach. After taking this all into consideration I think I have found you a taijutsu style that is perfect for you; it's called Capoeira."

"What's that?"

Gai smiled. He loved teaching. "Capoeira is a style that was taught to a travelling ninja before he settled in Konoha when it was founded. He travelled to the far west to learn of the different martial arts there. It was a time where slavery was commonplace and even accepted. He was appalled and he agreed to help the slaves free themselves. The slave masters punished them greatly if they were caught practicing martial arts of any kind so the designed a style of fighting that was disguised as a dance or game so the slave masters never thought to punish them for practicing it. The slaves all knew Capoeira but needed outside help if the were going to be free. The ninja agreed to help and one night he stole into the slave camp and unlocked all the cells were the slaves were kept. The slave masters were taken by surprise but thought that they could take the slaves as they didn't know how to fight. They were shocked to learn that Capoeira was a very effective style of fighting and not just a dance and they were quickly defeated. The ninja led the slaves to the docks were they, along with the ninja commandeered some of the vessels and set sail. To thank the ninja for all his help the slaves did the only thing they could to repay him; they taught him Capoeira. The ninja had seen the effectiveness of the style and readily agreed. After he left the slaves he was a master in Capoeira and a few years later he settled in Konoha where he only taught a few students before he died. One of his students was my sensei and he taught it to me after I told him that my dream was to become the greatest taijutsu master that Konoha had ever seen. And now you will be one of the few in Konoha who know the style of Capoeira."

Naruto was excited. That style sounded like it would be both devastating and cool to look at. "How do I do it?"

Gai spent the rest of the day going through the beginner aspects of Capoeira. Unlike other taijutsu styles, Capoeira didn't have any katas as you moved in accordance with your enemy. One of the most important things to remember about the style was to keep moving and it showed in the basic stance, the ginga, where the user would move from side to side while swinging his arms across his chest in a defensive position while moving each leg back and forth, making a triangle shape on the ground if you looked down at him from above. The style used mostly elbow strike, kicks, sweeps, head butts and a lot of acrobatic work.

Right now Naruto was dragging himself towards the apartment, and ultimately, his bed. Looking around he saw the local nightlife starting to come out. Looking at the couples and the groups of friends he began to think about what his life would have been like here instead of at the base. He'd probably have friends, and go to the Academy like regular kids…

…have a family…

That was one thing that he'd thought about through the years. He knew he couldn't just appear from no where so he had to have had parents at some point but whenever he asked the people at the base just said that he didn't have any. He couldn't do any research in any birth registries and he was never allowed out of his cage unless it was for training. That was another thing that he found strange; now that he had Kurenai and the rest of the Jounin teaching him he knew what training was and he never blacked out (but was often knocked out). He never really thought about his collar before but now he had to wonder. Why did he have it? What was it for? What happened when he took it off? He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. If he had no new information then he knew nothing that he didn't know a month ago.

He pulled himself up the stairs towards the apartment door and went inside. There was a note on the table saying that Kurenai had a mission and would be back in two days. He picked his still warm meal from its tinfoil wrapping and proceeded towards his bedroom for a good nights sleep.

* * *

**A/N: There you go, another chapter for y'all! Here's the plan for the next few chapters; the next one will be about the six months training and finishes up with the Genin Exam and team placements. The chapter after that will be the very first C-rank mission. Will it be the Wave mission or different one? Who knows? Also I don't know which chapter I will put the survival test in yet so I'll flip a coin right now. *Flips the coin then looks at it* Oh so it will be that chapter. As always leave a review as it will inspire (butter me up enough) to write more. Till next time, Ja ne!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Naruto. (I trained the Ghost Assassins well enough but…they couldn't really do anything. Couldn't hold a knife or strangle someone…nothing. But I have started to work on my new Killer Trashcans! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

**A/N: Someone asked some very good questions in a review, questions which I think many have been asking themselves so here is the review and answers to the questions.**

_**CW says: **__I have to say you deserve more reviews than this. I was uncertain about a multiple personality story, but your twist is very creative. You've done a good job. I do have concerns about him being a genin if his personalities are merging and he was kage level before. If Danzo thought he could assasinate the 3rd he must be extraordinarily strong even if he was to catch the old man off guard. How was it possible for the ROOT members to stop Fox from killing Danzo if he was that strong? ROOT members themselves can't be that much stronger or Danzo would have staged the coup long before. I'm guessing the village knows nothing about the Kyuubi being sealed in him because he disappeared that 1st day? It might make a nice twist to have the demon not be a factor in this story as it seems he's so powerful without it anyway. If he's learning this quickly he'll soon outgrow the genin rank. Looking forward to the next chapters._

**The personalities will merge gradually over the years and he will move beyond Genin rank by then.**

**I will explain how Fox was restrained from killing Danzou in the next few chapters. You're right, normal ROOT agents couldn't have stopped him and I have good explanation as to how he was stopped.**

**I hope that answers some of your questions. Now I will stop babbling and let you get on with the reading.**

**PS: Translations of Jutsu will be at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Naruto ran as fast as he could. The trees were blurs as his legs carried him through the forest at untold speed. He ignored the pain in his side as he tried to make it to a good hiding spot before he was caught. He glanced over his shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of his pursuer but all he could see was the verdant greens and browns of the forest. Feeling that he was safe for the moment he stopped on a branch to catch his breath. Looking down at himself he saw that he was covered in sweat, blood and dirt, his shirt was missing and his pants had large holes in them. He sighed. He'd have to go shopping again Standing back up he prepared to start running again when he heard rustling behind him. He spun in time to see his predator crash into him, sending them hurtling off the branch to crash into the forest floor below. Blinking away the daze from the crash he tried to get up, only to find a weight straddling him, pinning him to the ground and a silky laugh ringing in his ears.

"Caught you Naru-chan." Purred Anko as she slid a sharp kunai from her coat.

Naruto whimpered.

* * *

It had been one month ago that Naruto was first brought to Konoha and three weeks since he began training. He'd been progressing well, he'd learned two new jutsu; **Magen: Jabaku Satsu no jutsu **and **Katon: Housenka no jutsu**, his form in Capoeira was coming along nicely as was his training with his knives and his stealth was…getting there. Rin had him reading up on the human body as she wanted him to be completely aware of what was possible for the human body before she taught him medical jutsu. He didn't mind, he liked reading.

Currently Naruto lay in his bed moaning pathetically with Rin fussing over him and Kurenai scolding Anko.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to go overboard?"

"He's fine! He came back in one piece didn't he?"

"You had to carry him back after he passed out from blood loss!"

"You worry too much Kurenai."

Kurenai just threw up her hand in exasperation and moved to the bed where Rin had just finished giving Naruto a check-up.

"How is he?" She asked the medic.

"He'll live, just a little tired."

"See! Told ya!" Anko chirruped.

Kurenai glared at her fishnet clad friend and moved into the living room, Rin and Anko following behind. She made them some tea and they sat on the couch in silence before Rin spoke up.

"Sarutobi-sama says he needs to tell the council about Naruto-kun."

Kurenai sighed. "I know. He said he wants you and me there when he presents the files we found to the council."

"How do you think it'll go?"

Kurenai sipped her tea thoughtfully. "Well…I doubt the Ino-Shika-Cho families will be a problem as they have spent time with Naruto and they were friends of Minato. The Inuzuka's would most likely accept him but their loyalty will be absolute when he proves himself to the village. The Aburame would be highly logical and reserve judgement. I don't know about the Hyuuga's but Hiashi was a good friend of Minato's when he beat that 'fate' crap out of his head. It'll be the civilians that will try to stir things up though."

Anko snorted. "Let 'em say what they want, civilians don't get a choice in things like this."

"Still they could cause some animosity towards Naruto-kun." Rin commented.

"Wouldn't really matter if they did. Ninja and civilians don't exactly run in the same circles."

"Yeah but it is the civilians that run most of the stores. They could make life difficult for him." Kurenai scowled into here cup.

"Ah well," Anko supplied. "We'll cross that shit-creek when we come to it."

The others chuckled lightly at the typical 'Anko' response.

* * *

The sound of blades clashing rang throughout the clearing. The combatants stood in the centre trading blows. The taller of the two was always centred and never moved. The shorter one was in constant movement; spinning, slashing and flipping trying to land a blow. The short one brought his blade swinging up in a vertical arc only to be blocked. A kick was directed at his side but he flipped sideways over it, only to see a reverse kick coming straight for his face. He braced his hands flat on the ground behind him as he tried to duck backwards under the attack only to collapse to the ground with a cry of pain. The taller one looked down at him with slight concern.

"You okay Naruto?" Asuma asked as he helped his part-time student to his feet.

"Yeah." He groaned as he got up.

"What happened?"

Naruto sighed. "It's the knives. Every time I try to brace my hands on the ground they get in the way or bend my fingers painfully." He looked at his knuckles where the trench knives had dug into them when he pressed his palms to the ground. Apparently Capoeira and knife fighting didn't mix well sometimes.

Asuma sighed as he ran a hand through his short beard in thought. They had been trying to blend Naruto's knives with his taijutsu but it was slow going. Some of the moves required the hands to be pressed against the ground to give the user leverage to help perform flips and cartwheels. He groaned. Now they had to go and see Gai. Not that he didn't like Gai but he was a lot to handle sometimes. Oh well. Naruto was one of the few who recognised the utter coolness of trench knives and if he had to deal with Gai to pass on his art then so be it!

They made their way out of the Sarutobi family gardens and out the front gate of the compound. As they made their way into the market district Naruto noticed something; some of the villagers were giving him dirty looks and muttering about him. Thankfully those looks were few and far between. They had started about two weeks prior. He'd asked Kurenai about it but she just told him to ignore it so he did.

Asuma also saw the looks. He'd been told by his father that the council had to be informed of the recent developments and it went surprisingly well. Apparently Naruto being away all those years helped people move on and only two or three people on the council still bore a grudge against him. When the general population was informed it was the same; the majority was neutral but there were some who couldn't escape the past and blamed the boy for the tragedy. Naruto's life wouldn't be in any danger or change in any dramatic way so there was no problem. The few who glared at the kid got a healthy dose of killing intent, courtesy of Asuma.

When they reached Team Gai's training ground they entered the clearing in time to see Neji send Lee sprawling into the ground.

"I have told you before Lee; fate has decreed that you will always loose." The Hyuuga prodigy said as the green clad teen struggled to get up.

Naruto frowned. He got on well with everybody on the team except Neji. He just couldn't stand his way of attributing everything to fate. His shitty attitude was another reason. Lee and Tenten were the closest things he could claim as friends and he didn't like the way Neji always degraded them. In fact sometimes he wanted to send the young Hyuuga through the nearest tree.

"Gai!" Asuma called as he lit another cigarette. The spandex-nin turned at the call and smiled widely at the approaching duo.

"Ah, good morning Asuma-san. I hope you are well this fine day?"

Asuma shrugged. "As well as a smoker can be. We came because we need your help."

They explained the problem with the knives to Gai. Gai looked thoughtful and asked Naruto to give a demonstration. Naruto obliged and went through a few exercises with his knives and Capoeira when the same happened. Gai thought for a moment before inspiration struck. He took the knives and told Asuma and Naruto to watch closely as he mixed the fighting style and knife fighting together. It took Naruto a moment to realise something.

"You're not using your hands!"

Gai nodded. "Yes, it appears that you could still fight with the knives and utilise your taijutsu if you don't use your hands for the flips. If you do handless flips and use more rolls and sweeps or use your elbows and forearms when you need to brace yourself against the ground you should be able to incorporate your knives into your fighting style. If you refine and master it you will have created a new branch of Capoeira."

Asuma chuckled. "Hear that kid; you've already created your own kenjutsu style. So what will you call it?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before he smiled.

"Capoeira Arial."

* * *

"You're going great Naruto-kun." Rin said as Naruto tried to heal the fish lying on the table in front of him.

They were in a spare room of the hospital where Naruto was currently trying to cure a fish of a deadly case of scale rot by using **Shousen no jutsu**, the most basic medical jutsu. Naruto commented that he seemed to heal fast enough without medical jutsu, which he discovered when he was training with Anko but Rin was adamant, saying that even if he didn't need it someone on his team could so he just tried his best to learn the jutsu.

He'd been just starting to learn about using medical jutsu in the offensive; using senbon, chakra scalpels and poisons to bring down the enemy and he did rather well as it was easy to remember where all the critical points were.

Rin had noticed this to but she just attributed it to Fox's latent knowledge.

Naruto saw that the sale rot was starting to recede slowly so he pushed more chakra into the technique. When the infection completely disappeared but the fish didn't move Naruto thought he had failed but that thought was dashed as the fish started to wriggle, gasping for air.

Rin smiled as she picked it up and dropped it into the empty tank beside her. "That was excellent Naruto-kun. You're really coming along well."

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly and smiled slyly. "Thanks Rin-nee-chan."

Rin smiled at the endearment. After all the time they had spent together Naruto had started calling her, Kurenai and even Anko his 'Nee-chans'. They didn't mind and even enjoyed it. They knew that Naruto often wondered about his family as they saw him staring at parents with their children when he thought they weren't looking. It was heartbreaking; he had never known any sense of family or friendship before they rescued him from that base and now that he saw it he wanted it but just didn't knew how to go about getting it. They just had to be the best substitutes they could be for him.

"Well," She said as she wiped her hands. "Now that we're done here how 'bout we go get us some ramen?"

Naruto looked at her quizzically. "What's ramen?"

Rin just looked at him in shock for a moment before looping an arm around his shoulder with a huge grin and leading him out the door.

"I have much to teach you young one."

* * *

Naruto sat against a tree in the Sarutobi gardens. The Hokage had invited him and Kurenai over to dinner to the evening and Naruto decided that he would read up on some jutsu while he waited. He loved the gardens at the Sarutobi compound and was welcomed there anytime. The Hokage's wife had also taken a shine to him (and also started calling him 'Naru-chan'. He blamed Anko for that.).

Currently he was reading up on a variation of the **Bunshin no jutsu **called **Rai Bunshin no jutsu **which created a solid clone of the user that when destroyed would revert back into its natural lightning element and shock the attacker. He really couldn't wait till he tried it out but Rin-nee-chan said that he could only perform Raiton jutsu when she was there as it could effect his body's electrical current.

His thought were interrupted as he saw something trying to sneak up on him. 'Trying' being the operative word.

Who wouldn't notice a square rock with eyeholes inching towards them in plain sight.

He sighed. "C'mon out Konohamaru, I know you're there."

The 'rock' exploded in a cloud of smoke and from it emerged a coughing ten year old boy wearing a helmet and a long blue scarf. The boy chocked and spluttered for a moment, muttering 'used too much powder' before his gaze settled on a slightly exasperated Naruto.

"I should have expected you to see through my disguise, rival."

Naruto groaned mentally. He didn't mind the kid but Konohamaru had taken to following him everywhere he went and it was bordering on stalking. Ever since he saw Naruto land a pretty strong hit on Asuma in training he had pestered him non-stop to teach him.

"What do you want Konohamaru?"

"You know what I want; you need to teach me so I can defeat Jiji and become Hokage!"

Naruto did groan at that. Now he wouldn't leave him alone until he was taught something he thought he could use against the old man. Naruto was just about to explain _again _that he couldn't teach the boy anything when a thought occurred to him. Slowly a very evil grin crawled across his face and Konohamaru couldn't help but feel a little scared. Suddenly Naruto grabbed a piece of spare paper from the book and began to jot down notes as his mind replayed a memory from a few days prior.

-----//Flashback no jutsu//-----

_Naruto was walking was walking through the corridors of the Hokage tower on his way to see the Sandaime. During his time in the village he had become quite close to the old leader and thought him something of a surrogate grandfather. It didn't hurt that the old man had often offered to buy him ramen after Rin had introduced him to the sweet, fatty piece of heaven._

_Walking up to the door he noticed that it was slightly ajar so he just walked in. He saw the Sandaime sitting in his chair facing the window with a small orange book in his hands and a rather strange blush on his face. His curiosity piqued he walked up to the desk and tried to see what was in the book but the Hokage was blocking it._

"_Hey Sarutobi-Jiji, what are you reading?"_

_The Hokage shot out of his chair and spun in the air, trying to see who had snuck up on him. His eyes landed on Naruto, who was confused as to why the strongest ninja in the village was suddenly sweating bullets._

"_N-Naruto w-what are you doing here?"_

"_Don't you remember; you said we were going out for ramen today."_

_Sarutobi sighed in relief._

"_What's in the book Jiji?"_

_He started sweating again. He was about to try and bluff his way out of it when the door opened to admit Anko._

"_Hey old man, got any good miss-." She broke off upon seeing the book clutched in the Sandaime's hands. "Sarutobi-sama, who's book is that?" She asked with a sickly sweet voice, a creepy smile gracing her features._

'What do I do! What do I do! Okay, calm down! There has got to be a way out of this. I could…uh…THE BOY! Sorry about this Naruto, you'll understand one day.'

"_Actually Anko I just confiscated this book from Naruto. I believe that he has been spending too much time with Kakashi and has begun to pick up his bad habits." The Hokage said in his most believable voice. Anko rounded on a confused Naruto, the creepy smile on her face got even creepier._

"_Aw, so Naru-chan likes reading little orange books eh? Well we'll just have to fix that won't we? Or rather; _fix_ him." She gripped the back of his shirt and began to grad him out of the office. "C'mon Naru-chan, we have training." She said in a sing-song voice. Naruto knew that voice and usually associated it with pain. As he was dragged out he glared at the Hokage with a mix of anger, hurt and betrayal. The old traitor wouldn't meet his gaze._

_Naruto spent the next four hours 'training' with Anko (which was basically her kicking his ass up and down the training field for four hours). He spent the next two days in his bed for recovery, being lectured the whole time from Kurenai and Rin about not being a pervert despite his protests that he wasn't one. Kakashi and Asuma didn't help any as they kept asking him what he thought of the book and if he had read any others._

_He swore revenge on the old man._

-----//Flashback End no jutsu//-----

And now he was getting that revenge with interest.

As he looked over his notes one last time he let out a chuckle that was malice incarnate. He jumped to his feet and pointed to Konohamaru.

"Konohamaru! Are you ready to learn a jutsu that will guarantee that you will defeat your grandfather?"

Konohamaru had stars in his eyes as he nodded his head vigorously.

"Okay then, I want you to do exactly as I tell you…"

Sarutobi walked out the back of the estate and into the gardens to fetch his two grandsons for dinner. He felt bad for what he had done to Naruto but he didn't really have any choice; Anko was one of the worst pervert bashers in the village. Naruto would understand one day. Right?

He found the two in the far corner of the gardens. Konohamaru was covered in dirt and sweat while Naruto stood by watching him with pride. Konohamaru looked up as his grandfather approached and smiled. This would be the day he defeated him! The young boy leaped to his feet, all previous sighs of exhaustion gone and looked at Sarutobi with determination.

"Today is the day that you're going down old man!"

Sarutobi sighed. _Another_ attack by his young grandson. This was the sixth time this week. And it was only Tuesday!

"Konohamaru, must you keep doing this?"

"Ah, the old goat knows his time is at an end and is begging for mercy! Too bad! **Oiroke no jutsu!**"

The name should have been warning enough but Sarutobi was too distracted to care. From the cloud of smoke emerged a very sensuous, very beautiful, very _naked_ young woman. She had luscious curves and legs that went on forever. Her eyes shone from under her long brown hair as she winked at him.

"Stop staring Hokage-sama, I'm shy." She whined cutely. Sarutobi stared for all of three seconds before he was launched backwards in a crimson arc of blood gushing from his nose. As he lay on the ground twitching Konohamaru released the jutsu and started to run around proclaiming that he finally defeated the old man while Naruto was rolling around howling his sides out in laughter.

"Yo-you just got your ass handed to you Jiji, courtesy of 'Koru-chan'!" Naruto managed to get out between bursts of laughter. "That'll teach you for blaming your perverted little habits on me!"

Sarutobi crawled to his feet with two bloody tissues stuffed up his nose. He couldn't deny that he deserved it but that didn't mean he had to like it either. Reminding himself to outlaw that jutsu he beckoned a smiling Konohamaru and a still laughing Naruto to follow him for dinner.

* * *

Ino sat at the counter of her family's flower shop in a daze. School had let out for the weekend and she was forced to stay indoors and work in the shop. It was a slow day so Ino did the one thing she could do; fantasise. Currently (in her head) she was in a field with Sasuke kissing tenderly in the high grass. He had just confessed his undying love for her and said that he could never love 'Forehead-girl' as he so romantically put it. The scene changed and she was in the middle of a crowd of girls, all of whom where giving up on Sasuke, saying that they could never compete with her beauty and grace. The scene changed again and she found herself beside a small waterfall watching as a man bathed under the pounding water, water dripping off his muscular frame and his spiky blond hair framing his deep blue eyes. Wait, blond?

"Hey Pig!"

Ino jumped as she was brought out of her revere, wiping the tiniest hint of blood from her nose. She looked up and saw her former friend/rival Haruno Sakura enter the store, clad in her usual red dress with her long pink hair spilling down her back.

"What do you want Forehead?" Ino asked.

Sakura produced a note. "My mom sent me to pick up an order."

Ino took the note and began to pick out the items. As she did that Sakura sat on the edge of the counter.

"So Pig, the Genin Exam is just two months away are you gonna quit yet and admit that I'm the better kunoichi destined for Sasuke-kun's heart?"

"Ha! In your dreams Billboard Brow. Sasuke-kun will be mine and you will have to settle for someone like Kiba or Shino." Ino laughed as she placed a flower arraignment on the counter.

Sakura shivered. "I wouldn't wish Kiba on anyone, even you and that Shino guy is just plain creepy."

"I know."

As Ino picked up a rather large potted plant she heard the door ringing. She tried to turn to see who the new customer was but her foot tangled in some loose vines and she lost her balance. She closed her eyes and braced for impact and the sound of smashing pottery but it never came. She felt an arm wrap around her waist breaking her fall and she was pulled against something warm and soft but firm.

"Are you okay Ino?"

She knew that voice! Her eyes snapped open and she found herself face-to-face with Uzumaki Naruto. Or rather face-to-chest as she was currently cradled against him, one arm around her waist and another holding the heavy plant pot with ease. She blinked and a bright blush spread across her face.

"Ino! Are you alright?" Sakura asked worriedly as she hopped off the counter.

"Yeah…I'm fine." Ino mumbled, still not taking her eyes off those of the tall blond who was looking over her with worry.

"Ino!"

She snapped out of her stupor as Naruto set her back on her feet leaving her slightly…disappointed?

"I swear Ino, you can be such a klutz." Sakura said as she gave her friend-again-for-the-moment one last look over.

Ino rounded on Sakura. "Shut it Forehead! I'd like to see you try to walk while carrying a heavy pot!"

"Well at least I wouldn't fall all over the place like some cartoon character!"

"What did you say!?"

Naruto looked back and forth between the two as the verbal sparring continued and wondered if it would be rude to interrupt. Luckily he was saved by the arrival of Ino's mother Yasu.

"Oh, Naruto-kun! What brings you here?" She asked as she walked into the front of the store from the back room.

Naruto gave one last glance to the bickering girls before he stepped around them and placed the pot on the counter. "Kurenai-nee-chan sent me to pick up a special order."

"Ah, those special seeds from Demon Country. I have them right here." She reached under the counter and produced a small packet of seeds before handing them over to Naruto. "Tell her to remember only to water them with chakra enhanced water."

"I will."

"Oh, and if you're both not doing anything tonight we'd love to have you over for dinner tonight."

"I'll tell her." He said as he walked to the door. He looked at the girls who had stopped arguing to catch some air and he waved to Ino. "Later Ino."

She waved back. "Bye Naruto, and thanks for helping me."

He walked out the door and down the street, not noticing Ino's eyes on his back as he left her line of sight.

"Who was that Pig?" Sakura asked as the strange boy left.

"That was Naruto, he just moved here a few months ago."

"Oh, so he's a civilian?"

Ino shook her head. "No, he's studying for this years Genin Exam."

"What!? But it's in two months!"

Ino walked back around the counter. "He says he's a quick learner."

"Huh. So how do you know him?" Sakura asked as she started to gather up her purchases.

"You know Yuhi Kurenai is a friend of the family? Well she's his legal guardian."

"What's he like?" Sakura asked as she leaned on the counter. Ino quirked an eyebrow.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Just wondering."

Ino looked thoughtful. "Well he was really shy at first but that's understandable since he's new to town. When he started to open up more he was really funny and smart and he always offers to help with stuff. My dad said he was being trained by some of the Jounin and when I took an order to Kurenai's place I saw Naruto sparring with her in the training ground nearby. He was so cool and _so _fast, I could hardly see him move."

"Wow," Said Sakura. "Still, he can't be better than Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah, definitely!"

* * *

Naruto lay in his bed as content as can be. He had no training scheduled today and the Genin Exam wasn't until Monday so for now he could just vegetate until that time without any interruptions.

At least that was the plan before he was unceremoniously yanked from his bed by the ankle.

Naruto groaned as he looked up at the person who deprived him of his 'me-time' to see a grinning Asuma standing over him. Naruto just groaned again and tried to crawl back into his bed.

"None of that squirt, we have to go." The bearded Jounin said as he pulled the covers off the bed.

Naruto sighed and looked up at him with bleary eyes. "Why do I need to get up again?"

"Because I'm taking you to get your new clothes today."

"And why did you need to get me up this early to go shopping?"

Asuma leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "Well we have to go before the girls get wind of it or they're going to try and take the whole thing over. You do remember what happened last time, don't you?"

Naruto paled. The last time Kurenai, Anko and Rin had taken him for clothes was horrible. They spent hours going from store to store and trying different things on him and they didn't even let him take a break in between. Some of the things they bought were things that even Maito Gai wouldn't be caught wearing. Most notably a shirt…

…that was pink…

…and had flowers on it…

…Rin thought it was cute.

Naruto was up and dressed in under three seconds and a second and a half later he was dragging Asuma out of the apartment as quickly and as quietly as possible.

* * *

Kurenai had caught up to them, much to Naruto's dismay, but Asuma made her promise not to try and doll the boy up. She agreed and they were on their way. After much convincing of Kurenai and a bride to buy her some exotic flower seeds Asuma managed to convince her to let Naruto shop at Asuma's regular clothing store. For some reason she didn't think a store called 'The Bloody Rag' would sell high quality ninja clothing but Asuma assured her that it was where all the male ninja bought their clothes.

Naruto was left to his own devices as Asuma and Kurenai went off to look at other goods. He passed several racks but couldn't decide what he wanted. He'd never had an eye for what went with what and he didn't want to look stupid so he kept it simple.

He picked out a dark blue, long sleeved turtleneck and pants similar to what most Konoha Jounin wore. Underneath the turtleneck would be a fishnet shirt that came down to his mid forearm and the sleeves of the turtleneck would be rolled up to just below the elbow which would allow him to use the two storage seals on his wrists. For his feet he decided to go for a pair of Boot-like sandals with matt black shin guards.

He still felt something was missing so he looked around and was lucky enough to find a pretty cool vest. It was black and looked just like a regular Chuunin vest minus the neck guard and on either side of his lower back were two kunai pouches, pointing up and tilted at an angle which would allow him to easily draw his kunai.

He walked over to the counter to wait for Asuma and Kurenai when a thought occurred to him; where would he keep his trench knives? He thought about it for a moment before he turned to the store clerk.

"Excuse me?"

The clerk looked up from the order form he was filling in. "Yes?"

"I was wondering if you do custom work?"

The clerk nodded. "Yes, for extra."

Naruto pulled out the pants he picked up and said, "I have a pair of trench knives but no sheathes for them. Is it possible to attach sheath to each leg of these pants?"

The clerk thought about it for a moment. "Yes I suppose I could stitch a sheath onto each thigh and cover them with the same material as the pants to make them blend in. Do you have your knives with you so I can get some measurements?"

Naruto bit his lip. Asuma had taken away his knives a few days ago. He said he had a surprise for him and he would get it after he graduated. He was about to tell the clerk such when a trench knife was dropped onto the counter. Naruto looked over his shoulder to see Asuma standing there.

"Take mine, its roughly the same size."

The clerk nodded and went off to do the measurements. He said they could pick the pant up that afternoon. Asuma ordered three more pairs of the turtlenecks and customised pants each as one pair would get worn out quickly and they left. They decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at a nice restaurant before going back to pick up the pants then heading back to the apartment. Naruto was pretty beat so he said his thanks and goodnights before he crashed out on his bed.

* * *

DRRR! DRRR! DRRR! DRRR! DRRR! SMASH!

Naruto's smile was instantaneous when he woke up. It wasn't because he'd just killed his alarm (although that was a bonus). No, it was because today was the day of the Genin Exam.

He leaped out of his bed and into the shower, quickly scrubbing himself off before he got dressed. He wouldn't be wearing his new clothes today as he was saving them for when he was an actual Genin so he slipped on his white t-shirt with flame detailing and his black pants and sandals. After wrapping his full kunai pouch around his right thigh he walked into the living room to see Kurenai sitting at the table sipping her tea and reading the paper. She smiled as she saw the huge grin on his face.

"Looks like someone in excited about his test today."

"You bet Nee-chan! I'm gonna kick so much ass today!" He pumped his fist into the air.

Kurenai chuckled as she set down her cup. He had been around Anko too much, he was starting to pick up her bad language. "Well sit down and eat. You can't do to the academy on an empty stomach"

Naruto nodded and sat down to _inhale_ his bacon and eggs. After a quick tip to the bathroom he was at the door going over his equipment, Kurenai fussing over him the whole time.

"Do you have all your kunai?"

"Yes."

"Did you store your shuriken into your wrist seals?"

"Yes."

"Did you remember your underwear?"

"Ye- Kurenai-nee-chan!"

Kurenai chuckled and was about to shoo him to the door when there was a knock at said door. Opening it Kurenai came face-to-face with the Hokage. "Hokage-sama, what bring you here?"

Sarutobi smiled. "I came to escort Naruto to the academy. It's a big day and I wanted to wish him well."

"Thanks old man." Naruto smiled from behind Kurenai. He rechecked everything one last time then stepped out the door beside the Hokage. With a hug from Kurenai and a wish of good luck the ninja leader and ninja hopeful started their trek to the academy.

The whole way Naruto pestered the Hokage about the exam; what it would be like, what happens after it, what if he didn't pass and a multitude of other questions which the Hokage answered with patience.

Before too long they were in front of the academy building and Naruto felt a sudden wave of nerves. Sarutobi saw this and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Naruto smiled in gratitude before taking a breath and following the Hokage into the academy.

* * *

Konoha Ninja Academy had been around since the beginning of Konoha. In the past it was the responsibility of the clans to train their ninja's as part of Konoha's forces but there was often many problems like the small amount of ninja each clan could produce every decade and the question of who the ninja answered to; the clan or the Hokage. To solve these problems the Shodai constructed the academy. Since Konoha trained the ninjas they would be loyal to the Hokage and it also allowed the village to train non-clan shinobi to bolster the ranks.

The academy, while not massive, was impressive. Housing over one-hundred and fifty different rooms it was one of the larger structures of the village next to the hospitals and major clan houses. The classes were varied with subjects like the basic History, Jutsu Theory, Endurance training, Target Practice and Geography and the classes meant for those in the advanced years like Combat training, Tracking training, Etiquette training and Strategy. Understandably training ninja took a lot of work and not many were able to make the cut. This however didn't faze the young ninja hopefuls who worked hard every day for the chance to earn their forehead protectors.

One ninja hopeful, a certain blond, looked at the large building with rapture. This was the place he would finally become a shinobi after all those months of working himself into the ground. He was buzzing with anticipation of what was to come. He had already been told of what the exam would entail; a written test to gauge ones knowledge about the history of the village, the shinobi military structure and the shinobi laws, an obstacle course followed by a target range then onto the taijutsu exam and genjutsu exam finishing with the ninjutsu exam.

It would be no problem.

Following the Hokage Naruto made his way through the large wooden doors and down one of the many hallways, the sound of hundreds of students in their studies floated along the halls. Making their way up a set of stairs the duo walked for another few minutes before stopping outside a door marked 'Exam Room'.

"Ready?" Sarutobi asked, slightly amused by the nerves that the boy was beginning to show. Naruto took a deep breath and nodded. Sarutobi opened the door and entered followed closely by Naruto.

The class was like a mini-amphitheatre with four rows of tables facing the blackboard and a large window taking up an entire wall overlooking the Hokage Monument and the village. At the front of the class stood their sensei. He was a tanned Chuunin with a long scar across his nose and his black hair tied up into a ponytail. He looked up as the Hokage and a blond boy entered. He stood to attention as the rest of the class went silent, all eyes on their leader.

"Iruka, how are you?" Sarutobi asked as he strode up to the school teacher.

"Fine sir. It's a little stressful taking an entire graduating class by yourself but I'm coping." Iruka smiled.

"Yes sorry about that, I would have gotten someone else to assist you but they were busy." Iruka was forced to moderate the exam by himself after his teaching partner Mizuki was caught trying to steal a scroll from the Hokage tower. Apparently he was a minor ROOT spy used by Danzou to keep an eye out for students with potential in the academy and give their names to Danzou. He was caught by ANBU and now faced execution in a few days.

As the teacher and leader exchanged small talk some of the class were discussing the blond new comer.

"Hey Pig isn't that that new guy I saw in your store?" Sakura whispered to the long haired blond beside her.

"Yeah, Naruto." She confirmed.

"Hey, you know that guy?" Asked Inuzuka Kiba, a scruffy messy haired teen in a fur hooded coat with two red inverted triangles on each cheek. His nin-ken Akamaru yawned and buried his face further into his masters hood. "Who is he?"

Ino turned to him. "Like I told Forehead; his name's Uzumaki Naruto. He moved here a couple of months ago to train to be a ninja and has been studying for the exam. He's been training with a bunch of different Jounin so I guess he's probably really strong and he's really smart."

"Can't be that smart. I mean he's wearing a freakin' dog collar around his neck!" Kiba snickered. A human wearing a dog collar was very embarrassing in the Inuzuka clan.

Ino frowned. Naruto was a nice guy and she didn't like the idea of Kiba making fun of him for no reason. Although she did wonder about that collar. "Shut it Dog-Breath, if anyone should be wearing a dog collar around here it should be you."

"Don't call me Dog-Breath Blondie!" Kiba scowled.

"What should I call you? Mutt? Mongrel? Flea-Farm?"

Kiba was about to reply when Iruka cut him off.

"Okay class listen up! We have another student taking part in the exam so I'd like you to welcome Uzumaki Naruto. The test will start in a few minutes so get ready." Iruka pointed Naruto towards an empty seat next to Chouji. The portly boy smiled and offered some chips which Naruto readily accepted.

When the Hokage left Iruka started to hand out the written test while listing the rules. Once everyone had their papers they were told to begin. Naruto flipped his paper over and looked at the first question.

_Who was the first Hokage and what major contributions did he make to the village? Specify how the contributions effected the village and provide evidence to support your answer._

Naruto thought for a moment before he started.

_The First Hokage (Shodai) was Senju Hashirama of the Senju clan. In addition to building the village using his Mokuton abilities he drafted and put into place numerous laws such as the Act of Equal Human Rights__…_

This would be easy.

* * *

Naruto sat against a tree beside the target range. The first test had been a breeze and he easily answered all of the questions with no trouble. Spending the first thirteen years of your life doing nothing but reading up on Konoha would do that. After that they'd moved onto the obstacle course which he'd managed to get through with the quickest time. Right now he was watching the other students taking turns throwing their kunai and shuriken at the dummies scattered around the field while Iruka charted their scores. He was a little surprised when many people showed only moderate skill with the weapons, only hitting six out of ten targets for each weapon most of the time. Weren't final year students supposed to show skill. So far the only ones to show any aptitude were a girl with short blue hair and white eyes which he recognised as a Hyuuga and a boy with black hair and a blue turtleneck with white shorts.

He was one of the last called. So far no one had managed to hit all ten targets. The first few were easy then got progressively harder until you came to the tenth one which was behind a tree which no one had figured out how to hit but Naruto had a plan.

He walked to the spot Iruka indicated and just stood there taking in all the facts like the air current, positions of the dummies and their distance from him just like he had been taught. After a moment he pulled a kunai and held it to get the feel of it while the others watched with interest, wanting to see if the new kid was any good.

Suddenly Naruto brought his arm up and with a quick flick sent the knife into the centre of the first target. Without missing a beat he pulled another and scored another bull's-eye. The class were in awe, he was hitting every target in the exact centre and he wasn't even pausing in between! He hit the first nine targets in under five seconds and, almost lazily, threw a kunai _past _the tree that the final dummy was behind. The class thought that he just missed out on a perfect score when, with blinding quickness he drew a final kunai and threw it with unwavering speed. It hit the first kunai on the ring causing it to change direction with a resounding _cling_ and strike the final target dead-on.

The class were silent as he swiped his hands across his wrists and, to their shock, produced two handfuls of shuriken in a burst of smoke. Before they could comment on this strange occurrence he threw the shuriken with the same precision he did with the kunai scoring ten perfect hits again. As he colleted his weapons the class burst into whispers asking how he had managed to do that and how did he get so good. As Iruka congratulated Naruto on his scores the blond failed to notice a pair of onyx black eyes staring at him intently.

Who was this boy and how did he get such skills?

* * *

The class filed into one of the school dojo for their taijutsu exam. The objective was to meet the expected level of skill for a Genin while you fought Iruka. As they were called out one by one Naruto noticed that while most used the standard academy style, some used family or clan styles like the Hyuuga's Jyuuken or the Akimichi's Jugernaught style so he assumed it was okay to use Capoeira.

After Ino flopped down beside Chouji covered in sweat he moved to stand before Iruka.

"Okay Naruto, I know you haven't been around to learn the academy style but the Hokage tells me you have your own?" Naruto nodded. "Well warm up and lets get started."

As Naruto stretched and readied his muscles for the spar a group of students stood by, wondering if he would do well.

"I wonder what style he'll use?" Ino wondered.

"Well all the good ones are clan secrets so he couldn't use one of those. It's probably just him making it up." Kiba concluded, hands in his pockets.

"Maybe it is his family style?" Chouji offered.

Ino shook her head. "He's an orphan, he couldn't have been taught a family style if there's no family."

"Maybe someone knew the style and taught it to him? You said he was raised by a family friend before he came to the village." Sakura reminded her.

"Well if you be quiet and watch maybe you'll find out." Shikamaru said as the two combatants readied themselves.

Quite a few eyebrows were raised as Naruto dropped into the ginga, swinging an arm across his chest defensively while bending low and moving from side to side and describing a 'triangle' on the ground with his feet. Having never seen this particular form before, the students were curious as to what style it was. Iruka looked surprised but shook it off and moved to attack.

He led with a punch for Naruto's face which was easily batted aside and, with more speed than Iruka would expect from an academy student, Naruto brought his right leg up for a kick to the Chuunin's head. Iruka jumped back and Naruto followed. He turned his back to the teacher and with grace flipped into a backwards kick which was blocked. Taking it in his stride Naruto dropped to the ground and seemed to flow around Iruka's ankles to appear behind him and drive a hard elbow to the small of his back. As the Chuunin stumbled forward Naruto fell back into the ginga and waited.

He didn't have to wait long as Iruka came back at him with a kick to the chest. Naruto spun inside his guard and tired to sweep his legs out from under him but he jumped over his leg and managed to kick him away.

Naruto rolled with the kick and brought his heel up to clip Iruka's chin, sending him stumbling backwards. Naruto stood and flipped backwards intending to bring his foot down on the Chuunin's head but his ankle was caught and he was thrown across the mat, Iruka quickly following after. Again Naruto rolled with the kick and by the end he managed to bring himself into a handstand facing Iruka. He kicked his feet off the man's chest and spun on his hands to kick him in the knees, sending him to the ground. He tried to follow up with an axe kick to the sternum but Iruka rolled out of the way and to his feet.

Again Naruto waited. Iruka flew for him intending to grab him and keep him stationary. Naruto's hands snapped out and caught the teachers wrist in a firm grip and he brought both feet up off the ground while pulling Iruka forward. The result was Naruto's feet smashing into the man's gut, driving the air from his lungs and dropping him to the ground gasping for breath. Naruto flipped back and into the ginga and was about to attack when Iruka held up a hand.

"Stop! I think we've established that you have Genin level skill in taijutsu. Hell, you may even be Chuunin level." Iruka wheezed with a smile at the end. His eyebrow twitched slightly when he noted that Naruto didn't even appear to be out of breath, his breathing the same as when they started. The boy smiled at the praise and starched the back of his head as he helped the man to his feet.

The class were in shock. The moves he had been pulling of were done with such grace and fluidity and he'd managed to fight Iruka to a standstill, even landing the blow that finished the fight. Kiba was the first to recover from his shock.

"What the hell!?" The feral boy exclaimed. "How could he fight Iruka-sensei like that? He even won!"

"Forget that, did you see how he moved; it was like he had no bones or something." Sakura said in a hushed voice.

"That was…amazing. He even beat Iruka-sensei." Ino whispered in awe.

"Yeah, not even the Uchiha-teme could do that." Kiba nodded.

The insult to the object of their affections was all it took to bring the girls out of their revere and they set upon Kiba, pounding him into the ground. They only stopped when Naruto walked up to the group and the girls started bombarding him with questions, leaving Kiba bruised and bleeding on the ground while Chouji prodded him with his foot to see if he was still alive while Shikamaru commented on how troublesome girls were.

"Naruto what was that?" Ino questioned, her curiosity palpable.

"What?" He looked confused.

"That style." Sakura rushed him along.

"Oh, Capoeira." He explained.

"What?" Chouji asked. He'd never heard of that before.

"It's the style Gai-sensei taught me." He would have explained more but he was interrupted by the sight of someone walking over to them. He was a boy just a little shorter than him with black hair wearing a blue turtleneck and white shorts. He gave off an arrogant air as his dark eyes studied Naruto.

He'd been watching the fight intently and he didn't like what he saw. In his own fight he'd only managed to hit Iruka once and keep him on the defensive and yet here was this newcomer who managed not only to fight him on equal ground but also win the fight. _He_ was supposed to be the strongest, he needed the skills that this loser to help him kill _that _man and he would find how this kid got those skills and he would use them to his advantage. He stopped directly in front of Naruto, ignoring the others.

Naruto looked at the boy with confusion. He'd never met the guy before and here he just walks right up to him and stares at him. "Can I help you with something?"

"How did you do that?" It was more of a demand than a question.

"What the fight? I just used my taijutsu like I was taught." He answered.

"Who taught you?" Another demand

"Uh, a man called Gai-sensei."

"Get him to teach me." The boy said.

Naruto was taken aback by the guy's sudden order…and slightly annoyed. "Sorry but if you want him to teach you you'll need to ask him, but I should tell you he already has a Genin team along with training me."

The boy scowled. "Make him teach me."

Naruto's annoyance showed. "I'm sorry but who are you?"

Before he could answer Sakura gushed out a response. "That's Sasuke-kun; he's the best student in the academy _and _he's an Uchiha."

Okay now Naruto was annoyed and confused. "Uchiha? I thought they were all dead." He caught a flash of anger in Sasuke's eyes.

"No, I survived, now will you tell your sensei to teach me?" He was getting tired of spending time with these weaklings.

Naruto sighed. "Like I told you Sasuke-san you'd have to ask him but I don't think he'll have the time."

Sasuke scowled. "He'll have to make time."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Sasuke reeked of arrogance and apparently thought he deserved everything he wanted and he knew that if he didn't end this conversation something would happen. "He doesn't _have_ to do anything. If he wants to teach you he will but I suggest you change your attitude if you want anyone to do you a favour Sasuke-san. If that's all-" He turned away, intent on getting away from the Uchiha before his arm was grabbed in a harsh grip. He turned back slowly and saw that Sasuke had grabbed him, the others looking on with wary expressions. The raven haired teen had a sneer on his face.

"We're not done here dobe."

Now since being in Konoha Naruto had learned many things. He'd learned that his life at the base sucked in comparison to his life in Konoha. He'd learned that Maito Gai had the worst fashion sense conceivable and passed said fashion sense onto is student Lee. He'd learned to finish his ramen before Rin or he'd be defending his bowl from her addicted paws. He'd learned to stay away from Anko when she was on a sugar high and near kunai. However one thing he discovered was something that he had been surprised by; he had a temper. Having never had anything at the base that would make him angry or agitated he never had any experience with the violent emotion. However he learned that while he could get angry, it wasn't easy to. But right now the Uchiha was causing that anger to rise slowly but surely.

"I suggest you remove your hand Sasuke-san." He said in a low voice, his blue eyes looking directly into onyx ones.

"Not until you tell me how you got those skills." The Uchiha told him while tightening his hold on Naruto's arm.

"Let him go teme!" Kiba barked, rising to his feet. He wasn't necessarily friends with Naruto but any chance to fight Sasuke was worth taking.

Sasuke looked at the Inuzuka with contempt. "Stay out of this mutt. If I wanted your input I would have asked for it, now show respect."

Kiba would have flew for him if it wasn't for Chouji and Shikamaru holding him back. He didn't need to get himself thrown out of the exam for fighting.

Naruto's jaw clenched. Sasuke's attitude was really pissing him off and he still hadn't released his arm. "Sasuke-san I _really _suggest you leave._ Now_." He warned, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Sasuke scoffed. "And if I don't?"

Naruto bared his slightly longer than normal canines. "I'll make you." With that he grabbed the Uchiha's wrist and squeezed, causing the circulation to stop and his hand to go limp. Sasuke winced involuntarily. The blond had more strength than he'd thought.

"Now either leave or I will hurt you. _Severely.__"_ Naruto growled. Sasuke looked at him for a moment before he jerked his hand out of the blond's grip and stalking off. Naruto watched him go, remembering to ask Sarutobi-Jiji about team placements and the possibility of _not_ putting him with the Uchiha. He was kindly broken from his thoughts by Sakura.

"You jerk! Now look what you did!" She screeched before she set off to 'comfort' Sasuke. Ino looked indecisive for a moment before she followed after. Naruto watched them go incredulously. Didn't they hear the things he was saying? He turned to Shikamaru for answers.

"Sasuke has quite the fan base for being 'The Last Uchiha', even from the adults. Say anything against him and the local school girls will turn on you like a bunch of vipers." He explained.

"You should have slugged him." Kiba said, glaring in the Uchiha's direction. "The bastard deserves a few black eyes."

Naruto shook his head. "Probably but we don't deserve to be disqualified. Just ignore him and don't let him get to you."

They watched the rest of the spars, forgetting the arrogant Uchiha and his attitude.

* * *

Sasuke seethed. No one talked to him like that. He needed power to avenge his clan, it was his purpose! He promised that he would put that dobe in his place and show him how great an Uchiha really was.

* * *

Naruto was pleased with the outcome of the genjutsu exam; coming second after the girl Hinata who used her Byakugan to see through the illusion the second it was cast. He wouldn't mind ranking first but he didn't really mind as long as he got a good mark.

Now they sat in the classroom for their final exam; ninjutsu. Kakashi-sansei had told him of the three basic jutsu that a student needed to perform in order to pass. First was the replacement technique **Kawarimi**, the transformation jutsu **Henge** and the clone technique **Bunshin**. He watched as the others all passed, tying on their forehead protectors with huge smiles. As Sasuke progressed through the test he preformed the first two jutsu with no problem then created five clones, more than anyone else had.

"Beat that dobe." He whispered as he went past.

Naruto grinned and with a sudden urge to annoy the Uchiha stood and walked to the front of the class. He first **Kawarimi-**ed with the chair then transformed into Kurenai but released it quickly after he saw several boys leering at him. Still grinning he turned to Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei you said I had to perform a **Bunshin** jutsu didn't you?"

Iruka nodded and Naruto's grin widened. Flying through a few hand seals he pronounced, "**Mizu Bunshin no jutsu."** The water in Iruka's glass on the table rose and formed a perfect clone of Naruto. He ignored the wide eyed stares as he preformed more seals.

"**Doro Bunshin no jutsu.**" A pile of dirt flew through the window to create another clone.

"**Rai Bunshin no jutsu.**" The static in the air formed another clone.

"**Kaze Bunshin no jutsu**." There was a gust of wind as the air spun, creating another clone.

Naruto performed another set of hand seals but instead of creating a clone he made a ball of fire appear in his hand. He threw it into the air and formed more seals. "**Hi Bunshin no jutsu.**" The fire flowed and made a final clone.

Iruka and the class were astounded. Five solid clones. One for each element. That had never been done in the history of the academy. Iruka picked his jaw up off the floor and managed to splutter out a coherent sentence.

"Naruto that was amazing! How did you do that?"

Naruto shrugged as the clones left through the window to safely dispel themselves. "I read it in a book somewhere." The sudden mental image of Sasuke running around the library, franticly looking for any books with powerful jutsu entered his mind and he had to bite back his chuckles.

"Well congratulations. Here's your new forehead protector you are now a ninja of Konoha." Iruka intoned as he handed the metal piece to Naruto. Smiling he took it and walked back to his desk, pretending to ignore the death glare being sent his way by a irate Sasuke.

Iruka stood in front of the class. "Well that concludes the Genin Exam. For those of you that passed; congratulations and to those that didn't; don't hold it against your classmates and try harder next year. Those of you who have passed report here tomorrow for your new team assignments. Those of you who failed wait behind so I can get the name of you who are going to take the exam next year. Dismissed."

* * *

Naruto walked up the stairs to the apartment in high spirits. He was finally a ninja after all those months of training even if he didn't need it all for the exams. As he fished out his keys he began to wonder about the team placements. Who would be on his team? He hoped it was anyone but Sasuke, like Chouji or Shikamaru or Kiba even. He began to wonder who his sensei would be. So far he didn't know anyone other than Asuma who would be taking a team this year (after he found Asuma crying one day going on about how the old man tricked him into taking a team.). He pushed the key into the lock and opened the door to the dark apartment. He flicked on the light and was immediately rewarded with a heart attack.

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

Naruto yelped as fell back against the wall clutching his chest. He took in the scene before him. Kurenai, Sarutobi, Asuma, Kakashi, Rin, Anko and Gai all stood in the living room of Kurenai's apartment laughing at the panting boy in front of them.

"What is going on?" He questioned, looking around the room at the smiling senseis, Nee-chans and old Jiji.

"It's your graduation party." Rin informed him as she pulled him further into the room, closing the door behind him.

"What?"

"When someone graduates it's customary to hold a party in that persons honour." Sarutobi explained.

"How did you know I passed?" Naruto asked Kurenai.

"We just knew you would."

"Oh." Naruto never noticed the Hokage kicking a certain crystal ball behind the couch as he sat down.

It was a night he would never forget. There had been food and drink, laughing and talking and best of all; presents! Anko had presented him with a small black boot knife with a red blade edge she dubbed the 'Crimson Widow'. Gai had given him special wraps for his hands and feet which would become heavier as more chakra was pushed into them (He'd wanted to present him with a spandex suit before Sarutobi 'accidentally' set it on fire with a Katon jutsu). Kakashi had presented him with three scrolls containing the instructions for performing **Fuuton: Daitoppa, Suiton: Suigadan **and **Doton: Doryuudan. **Rin gave him a small rectangular leather pouch with the winged kunai symbol of Konoha Shinobi Infirmary embossed on the front and a medical licence allowing him access to all files and equipment at the hospital. When he turned to Asuma the bearded Jounin grinned and presented him with a box. Naruto opened it to find a pair of trench knives like his old ones. He looked confused so Asuma explained.

"They are the same as your old knives but these are made from a special alloy that allows you to push your chakra element through it. You remember when you split that piece of paper I gave you a few months ago? That was to find out your element which is wind, same as me."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean 'push you chakra element through it'?"

Asuma's response was to take one of the knives and concentrate. In a second there was a pale blue edge of chakra along the blade, humming slightly. "This is what I mean. By doing this you can push your wind element through it to make the blade stronger and sharper. It also allows you to do this." Asuma pushed a little more chakra into the blade and the edge of chakra suddenly shot out, extending over four feet and giving the knife the length of a sword. Naruto had stars in is eyes. He couldn't wait to try that out in a fight.

The rest of the night went on with much laughter and the last thing Naruto remembered was Kurenai helping him into bed with a whisper of, "I'm proud of you Naruto."

* * *

Naruto yawned as he sat in the academy class. He was in his new clothes, now including Anko's knife which was tucked into his sandal, Sarutobi-Jiji's gloves and Gai's weight wraps under his gloves and sandals and he'd replaced the blue cloth on his forehead protector with a longer black one which reached down to his shoulders. He'd been up pretty late and slept in so he had to run all the way to the academy. They were waiting on Iruka to give them their assignments so he decided to get some shut eye. His sleep was short lived as the Chuunin walked through the door five minutes later with a chart in his hand.

"Alright guys, listen up. These are the assignments of your Genin team, which you will be with until you reach Chuunin and maybe even Jounin. These are the people who will watch your back and possibly save your life one day so listen good. Now many other Genin teams are still in circulation so the first team is Team 7 consisting of Haruno Sakura,"

"Please be Sasuke-kun, please be Sasuke-kun." She kept whispering.

"Aburame Shino,"

The bug user didn't make any indication that he heard Iruka.

"And Uchiha Sasuke."

"YES! True love conquers all!" Sakura cheered while the girls all moaned quite pathetically.

"Your Jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team 8 consists of Inuzuka Kiba, Yamanaka Ino,"

Ino's head fell to the desk and she let out a whine.

"And Uzumaki Naruto." Ino perked up at that though she didn't know why; Sasuke-kun was lost to her now!

"Your Jounin sensei is Yuhi Kurenai." Naruto brightened at that. If Kurenai was his sensei they'd have a great time.

"Finally Team 10 will consist of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Hyuuga Hinata. Your Jounin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma. Wait here for your senseis, they will be here shortly." With that said he left, leaving the Genin to wait. They didn't have to wait long as Kurenai was the first to arrive.

"I'm here for Team 8." She called as she walked in wearing her combat gear.

Naruto smiled as she walked up to her. "Hey Nee-chan."

She smiled back. "Hello Naruto. Follow me you three." She led them out of the academy and into the village. After ten minutes they came to a park where Kurenai sat them under a large tree beside a lake. Kurenai made sure they were comfortable before the began.

"It's good to finally meet you. As you know I'm your sensei Yuhi Kurenai. Having read your files I know all about you but you don't know anything about me or your team mates lets introduce ourselves."

Ino raised her hand. "Uh, sensei? Why don't you sow us what you mean?"

Kurenai nodded. "Okay. My name is Yuhi Kurenai. I like my family (she smiled at Naruto), having fun with my friends Rin and Anko and developing and learning new genjutsu. I dislike perverts, little orange books and certain one-armed traitors. My hobbies are tending my plants and painting. My dream is to become the best genjutsu mistress in the Elemental Nations. You next." She pointed at Kiba.

He starched Akamaru as he talked. "My name's Inuzuka Kiba. I like dogs, especially Akamaru, my clan and having fun. I dislike people who are cruel to animals, my deadbeat father wherever he may be and cats. My hobbies include bugging my Nee-chan, taking Akamaru for walks and going on family tracking trips with my Kaa-san and Nee-chan. My dream is to be the best tracker the Inuzuka have seen since my Jiji."

Kurenai smiled approvingly. "That's an admiral goal, I'll do my best to help. Next."

It was Ino's turn. "I'm Yamanaka Ino. I like flowers, my family and Sasuke-kun." When Kiba groaned Ino knocked him over the head. "I dislike _dogs_," She said, looking pointedly at Kiba. "Heights and the colour pink. My hobbies include flower arranging, gossiping and singing. My dream is to replace my Daddy as the head of the ANBU Information Division and win Sasuke-kun's heart." Kiba was once again smacked for groaning at the Uchiha's name.

Kurenai mentally screamed. She hated fangirls, they gave kunoichi everywhere a bad name. Disregarding the second dream Kurenai said, "You'll have your work cut out for you if your going to take you fathers job but I'll help all I can. Next."

Naruto started. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I like my new family, ramen and my new home. I dislike cold weather, when Rin-nee-chan tries to take my ramen, getting up early and perverts. My hobbies include reading, training, learning new jutsu and walking outside. My dream is to…" Naruto trailed off when a sudden thought occurred to him. What did he want? Now that he was out of the base he had a world of choices; he could join ANBU, retire and have a family, teach a Genin team and much more. There was so much to choose from that e couldn't decide right away. "…I don't really know."

Kurenai frowned slightly but pushed on. "Well now that we know each other I should tell you something; you are not Genin."

"WHAT!?" Came the reply from the three students but Kurenai held up a hand to silence them.

"You are not Genin _yet_. There is one more test you must take; a survival test. The Genin Exam was to see if you had the skills to become Genin but this text sees if you will become Genin."

"What do we do?" Kiba asked as he leaned forward, Akamaru perched on his head.

"Follow me." Kurenai quickly stood and set off into the trees and through Konoha, her team following after. She gradually picked up speed to test their stamina and noted tat while Naruto and Kiba managed to keep up Ino was starting to lag behind. _'Going to have to fix that.'_ She thought as she reduced her speed slightly. After five minutes they came to an empty training field surrounded by trees. As Naruto, Kiba and Ino caught up she pulled a crimson silk ribbon from her vest and held it out for them to see.

"The purpose of the exercise is to steal this ribbon from me within the time limit. You may do whatever you need to get it and I should tell you now; if you don't come at me with the intent to kill you will fail." She tucked the ribbon into her back pocket, leaving one end dangling out and flutter in the breeze. "You have until the sun sets which is about five hours. Get ready." She raised her arm. The three teens tensed, preparing to do whatever they needed to win that ribbon and their Genin titles. Ino was slightly nervous at the prospect of failing the test and going back to the academy. Kiba was quietly talking to Akamaru, going over his plan to get the ribbon. Naruto was slightly worried about Kurenai telling them to have the intent to kill but reminded himself that she was strong and she could take care of herself. He set his face and determination shone in his eyes.

Kurenai smiled at her students. This would prove interesting.

She dropped her arm.

"BEGIN!"

* * *

**A/N: LONGEST! CHAPTER! EVER! Hey guys, I'd have probably had this out a few days ago but I didn't like the way the Genin Exam turned out so I re-wrote it. So the test is on and Naruto goes up against Kurenai to win his rank as a Genin. What'll happen and how? As always tell me what you think and review.**

**Next time: The survival test kicks of as Team 8 fights for the title of Genin. The worst missions ever test their sanity. New enemies emerge during their first C-rank and old friends become new enemies.**

**Next chapter: A fox emerges!**

**JUTSU TRANSLATIONS (note: I made up jutsu marked with *, if you want to use them in your stories okay but say were you got them):**

**Magen: Jabaku Satsu no jutsu - Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death**

**Katon: Housenka no jutsu - Fire style: Phoenix fire technique**

**Shousen no jutsu - Mystical Hand technique**

**Bunshin no jutsu - Clone technique**

**Rai Bunshin no jutsu - Lightning clone technique**

**Oiroke no jutsu - Sexy technique**

**Mizu Bunshin no jutsu - Water clone technique**

**Doro Bunshin no jutsu - Mud clone technique**

**Kaze Bunshin no jutsu - Wind clone technique (*)**

**Hi Bunshin no jutsu - Fire clone technique (*)**

**Fuuton: Daitoppa - Wind style: Great Breakthrough**

**Suiton: Suigadan - Water style: Water Piercing Projectile**

**Doton: Doryuudan - Earth style: Earth Dragon Projectile**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Grr…No. I _still _don't own Naruto. (Stupid Killer Trashcans. They work fine up until someone goes up the stairs, then the Trashcans can't follow them. Now I'm working on Giant Robot Worms! MWAAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHA!)

**A/N: DON'T KILL ME!!! *Frantically dodges stones, bottles and the occasional cat thrown by angry readers* I'm sorry! I've had a lot to do with exams coming up, collage interviews and a wedding to go to. It didn't help that this chapter was my own personal Sasuke; a bastard of the highest order. Every time I tried to type something my mind went blank. I promise I'll try to get future chapters out sooner. Without further ado; the next chapter of Weapon of Man!!!**

* * *

"BEGIN!"

The three Genin moved the second Kurenai's hand fell. Naruto ran through the trees aiming to get behind his Nee-chan. Ino crouched in a tree observing the proceedings. Kiba was…

…standing in front of Kurenai with his arms crossed.

She quirked an eyebrow. "You're not going to try to take me head on, are you?"

He laughed as he set Akamaru on the ground. "Heh, this should be easy. You can't keep your eyes on both of us at the same time. C'mon Akamaru!" Man and dog rushed forward, claws and fangs bared. Kurenai sighed. It was going to be a long day.

When the Inuzuka reached her she spun around his attack and shoved him in the back sending him tumbling forward. Then spun and stooped low, scooping Akamaru off the ground and tossed him through the air into Kiba's arms. She crossed her arms and smirked.

"This isn't going to work you know."

Kiba's response was to take a swipe at her which was caught by the kunoichi's hand. She yanked him around and slammed him into Akamaru who tried to lunge at her, sending them both flying through the air and into the forest. Kiba twisted in the air to take Akamaru out of harms way and crashed into a tree.

Ino's eyes bulged. Kurenai had taken Kiba out with no effort and the Inuzuka was the third best taijutsu fighter in the academy. There was no way she could get that ribbon! She was trying to find a solution to her problem when something tapped her on the back. She nearly screamed out when a hand was clapped over her mouth and her head was turned to face Naruto.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He released her. "I think we need a plan if we're going to get that ribbon. You saw how easily she took out Kiba and I know from training with her that Kurenai-nee-chan is no push over."

Ino glanced over to where Kurenai was standing. "But what can we do? She's a _Jounin _and we're _new__Genin._ There's no way we can win."

Naruto smiled. "Kurenai-nee-chan knows what I can do so she'll know how to stop me but there's a good chance she'll underestimate you or Kiba."

As they laid out a plan Kurenai stood where she started, tapping her foot in an attempt to stave off boredom. She had thought that Naruto would have at least probed her defences by now. She was not bored for long when a large mass of spinning teeth and claws came barrelling out of the trees and straight for her.

"**Tsuuga!"**

She leaped out of the way and turned to see Kiba standing there looking more feral than ever.

"I thought you might have been knocked out when I threw you." She commented as if talking about the weather. Kiba just growled. She was about to bait him again when she sensed movement behind her and she spun to see _another _Kiba coming straight for her. She heard the first Kiba make his move and she smirked. She waited until both Kiba's were close enough before she leaped straight up into the air. The two Kiba's had been running to fast to stop and as a result they ran straight into each other.

"I'll give you points for strategy Kiba, that was a good plan." Kurenai said from the tree branch she stood on. The Inuzuka didn't respond as he tried to detangle himself from his transformed partner. She saw Naruto jump out of the far tree line and she smiled. "I was wondering what was keeping you Naruto."

Naruto didn't speak as he jumped over the Inuzuka dog-pile and made a seal. **"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"** Three copies of the blonde burst into existence and as one they leaped for Kurenai.

Slightly disappointed with the blunt strategy, Kurenai kicked back into the trees behind her as the clones followed, leaving Kiba and Akamaru sprawled on the ground in the clearing.

"Don't you think this is a little foolish Naruto-kun? Attacking a Jounin head on?"

The four Naruto's just smirked and lunged for her. Kurenai quickly pulled out a kunai and blocked the first clone's attack while the other two attempted to grab her by the arms. She grabbed the first clone and swung him around, using him to bat away the other two. They vanished in a burst of smoke and she looked around to see the real Naruto standing on a branch a few feet from her.

'_What are you up to Naruto?' _She thought.

Naruto smirked as if reading her mind and pulled out his trench knives. Kurenai pulled out another kunai and the two stared at each other for a moment before they flew for each other.

* * *

Back at the clearing Kiba finally managed to detangle himself from his transformed partner. He wasn't amused with the fact that Naruto had interfered with his fight.

'_I nearly had that ribbon damn it! Then he comes out of no where and gets in the way.'_

He spun around when he felt something tap him on the shoulder and he found himself face-to-face with Ino. "What is it Ino, I need to get that ribbon before Naruto does!"

Ino just rolled her eyes at Kiba's typical 'boy' attitude. "I came to tell you that we, as in me and Naruto, came up with a plan to get that ribbon and we just thought you'd want in on it."

Kiba crossed his arms. "What makes you think I need your help?"

Ino arched an eyebrow. "Besides the fact that Kurenai-sensei just handed your ass to you without even trying?"

Kiba's eyebrow twitched. He knew he was beaten pretty badly but did she have to say it so blandly? He sighed. "Fine, what's the plan?"

"Well…" Ino explained it to him and Kiba nodded his approval. It was a good plan and sounded like it could work.

"Okay. Let's do it!"

* * *

Kurenai dropped and rolled to avoid the barrage of fireballs Naruto sent her way before she launched her kunai through the air. The blade pierced Naruto's throat and his expression changed to one of surprise before he was replaced with a log in a burst of smoke. She heard the sound of a blade cutting through the air and she spun in time to block the two trench knives before the decapitated her.

"You won't beat me Naruto-kun." She baited with a smirk.

Naruto growled in frustration and aimed a kick at her legs which she blocked. Kurenai brought up her leg and kicked Naruto across the clearing to give herself a breather. He couldn't beat her in a fight but some of the tricks he used to get that ribbon were sneaky as hell and it took some effort to avoid him. She glanced around the crater marred landscape as she cracked her neck. Naruto was using all of the training he had amassed in the past six months to the fullest. He had probably used more chakra in some of those attacks than most Jounin had in their reserves. Couple that with his skill with his knives and his Capoeira Arial and you have one very deadly blond.

Naruto rolled to his feet and glared at Kurenai. He had tried his hardest and still he couldn't land a decisive blow on her. What she didn't know is that he wasn't trying to get the ribbon; he was trying to tire her out or wound her enough to slow her down. He closed his eyes and used his higher-than-normal senses to check the surrounding forest. He could hear birds chirruping, feel the direction of the wind on his skin and could smell the scent of the forest. There were two particular scents that he was looking for and he fought back a smirk as he smelled them. Time to put the plan into action.

Naruto gripped his knives tightly as he took a deep breath. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he tore across the ground towards Kurenai. He saw a flicker of annoyance and disappointment cross her face and he grinned. Just as he was about to reach her there was a sound of trees being shredded and from behind Naruto two twirling masses of air and claws burst from the trees.

"**Gatsuuga!**"

Kurenai's eyes widened. She had almost forgot about Kiba. She launched herself backwards to avoid Naruto's slash before she leaped up and over him. She landed and rolled, barely dodging Kiba and Akamaru. She looked over her shoulder to see Naruto, Kiba and a transformed Akamaru grinning at her, their canines glinting in the sun. They never paused as Naruto ran at her, Kiba and Akamaru flanking him.

The blond launched a kick at her which she nimbly ducked at the same moment she blocked punches from the Inuzuka partners. Naruto managed to kick her in the stomach, forcing her backwards.

She tossed a kunai at him just as Kiba and Akamaru started up their **Gatsuuga **again. She jumped backwards, narrowly dodging the attack and she felt a tree against her back when she felt two hands wrap around her ankles in preparation for the **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu**. She quickly forced chakra into her feet to avoid being pulled underground. She thought she was safe until she heard Ino's voice.

"**Shintenshin no jutsu!**"

Kurenai vaguely felt her body slump to the ground as she was forced into the recesses of her own mind and another soul take over her body.

Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru watched Kurenai warily. The plan went off without a hitch so far but everything depended on this. The Yamanaka family jutsu allowed the user to take over someone's mind and body but those with strong enough will power are able to fight it off. They tensed as Kurenai slowly rose from the ground. She looked up with a smirk plastered on her face.

"It worked." She said.

The boys sighed in relief and relaxed their stance. The Ino-possessed Kurenai walked up to them and pulled the long red ribbon from her pocket and handed it to Naruto before she turned around and sat against the tree. Kiba and Naruto pulled out their spools of ninja wire and quickly tied Kurenai to the tree, making sure to tie her fingers so she was unable to perform jutsu. Kurenai slumped forward, unconscious and a few moments later Ino walked out from the bushes she hid in to perform her jutsu. The Genin shared a triumphant grin. The had passed.

"Better wake her up." Ino said.

Naruto nodded and moved to kneel beside Kurenai as he pulled some smelling salts from his pouch. He waved them under her nose and she jerked awake, her eyes watery from the powerful smell of the salts. She looked up to see her three students smiling down at her.

"All right you three, the test is over. You've won."

Grinning, Naruto reached down with a kunai and cut the wires. Kurenai stood and shook her arms to get the circulation going again. "How did you do it?" She asked.

The three looked at each other and by some unspoken agreement it was decided that Naruto would be the spokesperson. "We knew we'd never get the ribbon alone." He began. "I found Ino and we worked out a plan. I chased you out of the clearing and Ino told Kiba what we were up to. My job was to ware you down while they talked and wait for the signal. When I smelled Ino's perfume and the scent of Akamaru's urine on one of the trees I knew that they were ready. I ran forward to attack you, making sure to stay ahead of Kiba and when you jumped over me I made a **Kage Bunshin **and went underground using **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu. **Kiba, Akamaru and the clone forced you back against the tree were I held you in one place for Ino to use her family jutsu to get the ribbon." He finished.

Kurenai smiled at her team. It was an ingenious plan and they realised the importance of teamwork, the real answer to the Genin exam. "Good work. I'm proud of you all for managing to come together as a team to complete your objective. You put aside your differences for one purpose and managed to get the ribbon from me and in doing so you have proven yourselves worthy of the rank of Genin."

The three Genin's smiles could have lit up most of Konoha. After four long years (At least in Kiba and Ino's case) they were finally Genin.

"We'll go get some food to celebrate and tomorrow we'll begin taking missions." Kurenai led her new Genin team towards the village. Life was going to get interesting with these three around.

* * *

'_I'm going to kill her slowly and painfully if this keeps up.' _Ino swore to herself.

They had began taking missions the day after the Genin Exam like Kurenai promised. At first they were a bit surprised and disappointed at the nature of those missions. When they were at the academy they expected to be doing things like escorts and protecting important political bodies but they weren't expecting to be doing this. Their first D-rank mission was to do grocery shopping for an old lady who couldn't get around very well. The were shocked at this but they let it slide, hoping that it was a one time thing. When they showed up for another mission they were told they had to build a new fence for a farmer and again they set out for another boring mission. It was made painfully clear that they wouldn't be getting any interesting missions any time soon and with each trivial task they had to perform, Ino's patience got even more worn down and it was only a matter of time before she made it known and that time was now.

They had just arrived in the Hokage's office after a particularly stressful mission. They had to look after the grandchildren of one of the Elders. Four little demonic creatures that the Elder liked to delude herself into calling babies. Ino thought they would tackle the mission like every other; they would each take a fair share of the work and try to complete it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately she didn't factor in the cowardice of her two team mates. Kiba spent the entire time trying to keep Akamaru out of the kid's reach while she was laden with three children who had taken to eating her hair. Naruto just looked lost the whole time, as if he had no clue as to what they should be doing and she felt less resentful towards his slaking than she did Kiba's but she was still mad. Kurenai-sensei had been no help at all as she said that it was 'their mission' and so Ino was forced to look after all four babies by herself. When they finally emerged from the Elder's home Ino swore that it would be the last time they had to do these so-called 'missions'.

And Yamanaka Ino always got her way.

Currently they were standing in the Hokage's office awaiting their next mission.

"Team 8 reporting. Mission successful." Kurenai stood at ease in front of Sarutobi's desk, her three Genin standing behind her.

"Ah, enjoy yourselves did you?" Sarutobi asked as he hid his smile behind his hand. The worn Genin glared at him, looking extremely haggard.

"It was…eventful, sir." Kurenai allowed a small smile when she felt Ino's killing intent spike sharply.

Sarutobi chuckled as he reached for a pile of mission request forms. Ino's eyebrow twitched dangerously as she recognised the yellow tab marking them as D-rank. "There are a few new missions that just came in so you'll get first pick. There is cleaning the Inuzuka pens, litter picking at Hoshigama Park, help construction workers at the Arena-"

"No!" Ino cut him off. She was too far gone to care that she was on the edge of insubordination. These damn 'missions' would end now! "Give us any mission that doesn't involve this lowly grunt work. _Please!_ I don't know how much more I can take before I kill someone!"

Sarutobi sat back in his chair, a small smile playing about his lips. The team had performed more than the necessary amount of D-ranks to warrant a higher ranked mission and he didn't doubt that the team could look after themselves and get the job done but there was one thing that worried him. They had not found out if Danzou was actively seeking Naruto out. Being Danzou's former lead agent Fox was undoubtedly a loose end that Danzou wanted taken care of. The only question was 'Was Danzou looking for Fox or would he wait for the opportunity to kill him'. With ROOT's diminished numbers, influence and supplies Danzou would have to manage his resources carefully if he wanted to take over Konoha.

He looked at Kurenai. She was fully aware of Sarutobi's concerns and shared them. She knew the possibility of coming under attack by ROOT operatives but she wasn't worried about herself, being trained by a Sannin and her own strengths made her one of the strongest ninja in the village on par with Kakashi and Gai. She was worried about the safety of her students. Fortunately she always had backup in the form of Fox. If things got too bad then all she had to do was remove Naruto's collar and allow Fox to take over. Still, it was her choice.

"What do you think Kurenai? Are they ready?"

Kurenai shrugged. "They've been ready for a while. I think that they'd be able to handle a C-rank mission." She turned to them. "Do you think you're ready for a more riskier mission?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Give us any mission you got old man, we'll complete it in no time." Ino and Kiba looked at Naruto in shock. They'd finally managed to convince the Hokage to grant them a higher ranked mission and Naruto's lack of respect was about to ruin it! He was a dead man.

"Okay then." Sarutobi said as he reached for the C-rank pile. Ino and Kiba turned their shocked looks on the Hokage. He didn't even bat an eye at Naruto's disrespect of calling him an 'old man'. Before they could voice their confusion Sarutobi pulled out a mission file. "Here we go, a mission to the capital. There have been a series of strange occurrences in the city as of late; thefts, break-ins and even one or two murders. The Daimyo's Guard has had no luck in the investigation and as such have seen fit to request ninja assistance. They believe a gang of bandits are operating somewhere inside the city but have had no luck locating them. Your mission is to investigate and either capture or eliminate the bandits and, if you can, recover any hostages and stolen items you find."

Kurenai nodded and took the scroll from the Hokage, tucking it into one of her vest pockets. The Genin shared grins. They were finally going on a real mission. Kurenai turned to her team. "Go home and pack a week's worth of supplies. The mission may not be that long but it's better to be prepared. We'll meet up at the main gate at 9am tomorrow morning." They nodded and trooped out the door with Kurenai following. They had a mission to prepare for.

* * *

At nine the next morning Naruto and Kurenai were the first to arrive followed closely by Ino then a dreary eyed Kiba and Akamaru.

"How long is it going to take to get to the capital?" Kiba asked as he covered his mouth to stifle a huge yawn.

"We should arrive by the end of the day. We'll rest for the night in the city before we start our investigation." Kurenai told them as she readjusted her pack. As she went over to talk to the Chuunin guarding the gates Ino looked out at the road leading away from the village. This would be the first time she had ever stepped outside the village and to be honest she was a little scared. There had never been a need to leave the village before and she had heard all about the dangers that lurked beyond the walls from her daddy's stories and from what she learned in the academy. She knew that Kurenai would be with them but she still felt that little sliver of apprehension. It must have shown on her face because Naruto saw that something was bugging her.

"You okay Ino?" He asked, concerned.

"Huh?" She turned to face him. "Yeah, just a little nervous. I've never left the village before."

"We'll be fine." He assured her, a smile on his face. "We're strong and we have Kurenai-nee-chan with us so there's nothing to worry about."

She didn't know why but Naruto's reassurance made her feel better. "Thanks Naruto." Then a thought occurred to her. "Hey Naruto, you've lived outside the village most of your life right? What was it like?"

Naruto's mind went into panic mode. It was true that he told everyone that he lived outside the village for all his life but he had no experience of living outside to back it up, no stories to tell, or rather no stories he was allowed to tell. He had no choice but to use one of the skills Anko had taught him. The ability to lie through your teeth. "Uh, well I lived in a small lumber village, not very exciting. The most interesting thing I could tell you about would be chasing off the occasional wolf." He mentally crossed his fingers hoping she would buy it.

She did. "Oh."

Kurenai walked back to them. "We're ready to go. Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"Sure thing."

"Then let's go." And with that Kurenai led them out the gate and down the road. They took to the trees, bounding from one branch to the next occasionally indulging in idle conversation but travelling in silence for the most part. They stopped for a break at noon before continuing on with a rest stop every few hours. It was 2pm before they stopped at a small town for lunch. They found a café and sat at one of the outdoor tables while they ate.

"What's the capital like Kurenai-sensei?" Asked Ino as she ate her salad. She was on _another _new diet and no matter how hungry travelling made her she was determined to stick to it.

Kurenai put down her red bean soup as she thought. "The city is called Naien. It is one of the largest cities in the Land of Fire and is the centre of government and the home of the Daimyo, the administrative leader of the Land of Fire. It is also one of the wealthiest cities in the Elemental Nations and is sometimes called 'The Jewel of the Flame'. We'll be staying in the Daimyo's mansion while we work and we'll receive assistance from the city Guard if we need it."

Ino and Kiba listened intently, soaking in the details but Naruto just slurped his ramen, only giving the conversation half an ear. He knew it all already anyway so there wasn't much that he didn't know about the city anyway. With the amount he'd read there wasn't much he didn't know about _anything._

After they ate they continued on through the trees. The sun was low now, casting a pinkish orange tinge across the sky. They noticed an increase of roads and travellers and it was safe to assume that they were getting close to Naien. It was when they came to the top of a rather large hill that they first saw the city.

It was large, larger than Konoha. The outmost buildings were common middle and lower class homes which became more ornate and large the closer they got to the centre. There was a large stone wall encircling the city, manned with samurai and Guarded with towers and buttresses. There were three large gates that served as entrances, each leading onto a long, straight road that stopped at the perimeter wall of the Daimyo's mansion and the main government building where the Daimyo and his advisors would meet to run the administrative side of the Land of Fire while the Hokage ran the military side.

They had to wait in a rather long line before they were granted entry. When Kurenai told the Guard at the gate that they were the ninja sent to investigate the strange occurrences in the city they were asked to wait in a room in the gatehouse. After about five minutes a man entered the room. He was clad in the dark red armour and black cloth of the city Guard and had a long katana strapped to his side. His head was shaved and had quite a few deep scars on it. Evidently he was no stranger to combat.

"Kurenai-san, I am Genji Hizaki one of the Captains of the Daimyo's city Guard." He nodded to the Jounin. "I've been instructed to act as a guide and liaison between you and the city Guard."

"Hizaki-san." She greeted. "Can you tell us anything about the investigation?"

"Yes I can tell you all I know on the way to your quarters. If you'll follow me?" He led them out of the gatehouse, towards the Daimyo's mansion. "The first incident was a break-in in the Greater Naien Bank. Somehow someone managed to enter the vault and stole a considerable amount of money. We investigated but found no clues and have no idea how they got into the vault."

They paused to allow a merchant cart to cross the road before continuing on. "The next crime was the murder of two Guard Captains. Their bodies were found in an alley. They had their throats cut and there was no clues as to who did it but there was something strange. Their legs were wet from the knee down but there was no substantial body of water in the area so we think it was a body dump."

They were coming up to the perimeter wall of the Daimyo's mansion now. "The last incident occurred inside the Grand Archive. One of the servants noticed water on the floor beside a closed window. It had been raining outside so it was easy to conclude that someone sneaked in through the window and the servant alerted the Guards. We raised the alarm but found nothing. After that we decided to call in ninja assistance to be on the safe side."

The walked up to the main entrance, a large ornate set of double doors which were opened by two Guards, and went inside. The house was rather traditional, made of polished wood with flowing designs carved into it and rice paper sliding doors. The floors were covered by a deep red luscious carpet and there were antique vases and weapons on stands and in cases in alcoves lining the corridors. They were standing a large open section that was used to greet the guests. In front of them was a large staircase and there was doorways and halls leading further into the house.

Hizaki left saying he needed to get back to his post and to call if they needed anything. They were led to their rooms by a servant and after ordering food they decided to plan for tomorrow.

They were currently sitting on the floor of the boy's room surrounded by empty food trays.

"Tomorrow we'll start looking for clues." Kurenai said to her gathered Genin. "First we'll go to the bank and search the vault and then we'll go and see what we can gather from the dead Guards. I'd usually split us up into groups but this is a first time C-rank mission and makes me want to be on the safe side."

"Any idea who is responsible for this?" Ino asked. She was already in her pyjamas, hugging her knees to her chest.

Kurenai shook her head. "The Guard seem convinced that it was a gang of bandits but no run-of-the-mill bandit could be this clean. There was no evidence on the dead Guards and none at either the bank or the Grand Archive. I think this may have been a professional thief mercenary group. Until we see otherwise we're going to assume that the murders and the break-ins are separate incidents."

"What happens if we find the guys responsible?" Asked Kiba as he stroked a dozing Akamaru.

Kurenai leaned her head back against the wall. This was one of the hardest parts of being a sensei. "We either try to capture them or if that option is unavailable to us…we will need to kill them."

The colour drained from the Genin's faces as they stared at Kurenai in shock. They knew that they would eventually need to kill but they didn't expect it to be this soon and the prospect of killing was never a nice prospect. Kurenai could see their hesitation on their faces and understood their reluctance. She and Minato had been the same when they were on their first C-rank with Jiraiya and he'd explained it to them in one of his very few non-perverted moments.

"I know that you are against the idea of killing someone." She began slowly, making sure the Genin understood her. "But you must understand that there are times when you must take the life of an enemy. Sometimes you have no choice but to kill your enemy to stop him from harming anyone further down the line. You knew that you would have to kill one day and I know that you wouldn't have thought it would be this soon but this is the life you have chosen. Remember; one moment of hesitation could lead to your death, the death of your team and the death of innocent people. I'm not saying that you should feel nothing of killing or feel the need to kill on a whim, that would only lead you down the path of destruction. However you must realize the difference of killing in service to your village and to protect those you love and killing out of bloodlust."

Naruto, Ino and Kiba sat in silence as they digested Kurenai's words. It was all true, they did swear to live and die in service to their village and part of the deal was the necessity to kill. Kurenai had a point about stopping criminals before they could cause more pain further on in life and sometimes the stop had to be permanent. With these thoughts in their heads the Genin broke up and got some sleep. They had a big day tomorrow.

* * *

The Greater Naien Bank was one of the newer additions to the capital city of Fire Country. After the previous Bank of Naien burned down the Greater Naien Bank was commissioned in its place. The building was of western architecture, a large construct of smooth grey stone and metal framed glass windows. The marble floors and walls of the place added to the splendour, emphasising the banks reputation of servicing the elites of Fire Country.

It was deep underground that the vaults were. One corridor containing nine large vault door and beyond those doors was a multitude of wealth. It was within the largest and most well protected vault that team Kurenai began their investigation.

There was no hole in the wall, no trashed vault or anything out of place. In fact there was not anything to suggest that the vault had been robbed other than the fact that the safety deposit boxes were all empty but the things like jewels and money were untouched.

"This is so weird." Kiba commented as he prodded a pile of coins on one of the tables in the vault. "Why go to all the trouble to break into one of the most well Guarded banks in the country and not take any money?"

"Not everything of worth is made of gold or silver Kiba." Kurenai told him. "Some of the documents that were stolen were of immense value if used correctly."

"Has anyone been in here since the robbery?" Naruto asked.

Kurenai shook her head. "Besides the clerk that discovered that the documents were missing and the Guards there has been no one. Can you find a trace Kiba?"

The Inuzuka looked around the vault and shook his head. "No. Any trace would have vanished by now and if the culprit was as good as we think then it is safe to assume that he knows how to mask his scent."

"I can't find anything either." Ino sighed as she disengaged the fingerprints finding jutsu.

Kurenai took one last glance around the vault. There was nothing that would lead them to the culprit in here. She sighed as she turned to the door. "Then let's go. Next stop; the morgue."

* * *

In one corner of Naien General Hospital Kurenai, Naruto, Ino, Kiba and Akamaru crowded around the first of two slabs. Upon each slab was a sheet covered body and at the side of the slabs were two trays which held a scroll each. Their breath fogged In the cooled air as they pulled the cover back from the first body.

Ino gagged and moved away quickly before she threw up. Kiba looked green but swallowed and forced himself to stay. Kurenai, and Naruto looked at the body with grim expressions. The man's neck was brutally cut, going most of the way through and almost severing his head from his shoulders. His skin was white and his lips were blue.

Kurenai glanced over the dead Guard before looking over the autopsy report. There was nothing she didn't already know from looking over the body. He had died of blood loss from the cut to his neck and there were no other marks or bruises on the body.

She sighed. "Kiba can you get a trace?"

Kiba shook his head. "No. Even without trying I can tell we'll get nothing. He's been dead too long."

Kurenai sighed again. She had expected as much. "Okay, Ino?"

The platinum blonde looked up. "Sensei?"

"Have you been getting training into your clan jutsu?"

"Yes."

"Have you learned the **Urooboe Souki no jutsu**?"

Ino's eyes widened. The faint memory recall jutsu was used to try and access the final memory from a dead person's mind. It was imperative that it was used as soon after the death as the memory quickly faded from the mind. It was different from other Yamanaka jutsu because the user didn't enter the mind, they scanned it.

Ino nodded. "I began learning it about a week ago. I'm not the best at it but I think I can get by if I concentrate hard enough."

"Then when you're ready." Kurenai took a step back and allowed Ino room to work.

The Yamanaka heir took a deep breath. She brought her hands together and began a long chain of hand seals, focusing her chakra. She lightly placed her fingers against the sides of the man's head and began to gently push her chakra into his mind.

* * *

_She began to hear faint whispers so quiet she thought that she may have been imagining them as strange smoky shapes tried feebly to take form in front of her mind's eye. The Guard's final memories were deteriorating fast so she needed to work quickly._

_Slowly the smoke began to take shape and she found herself in a dark tunnel, illuminated only by the torch in the Guard's hand. The sound of sloshing water and the chattering of rats filled her ears. The scene tilted and Ino found herself facing another Guard's face. She was seeing the memory through the dead Guard's eyes. _

_Ino strained her ears and heard the faint remnants of the conversation between the Guards. _

"…_Stupid…nothing down here…" _

_The second Guard shook his head. "…Know I…heard something…here…" _

_The Guards moved further into the tunnel, hands on their swords as they searched. Suddenly the first Guard put his hand on the other's shoulder, stopping him. He pointed down the tunnel and the second noticed the faint firelight coming from another tunnel. The two Guards nodded to each other and turned off their torches while at the same time pulling their swords from their sheathes._

_As quietly as they could they approached the light, straining their ears for any signs of an enemy. They pressed up against the wall and the first Guard carefully looked around the corner._

_The tunnel opened up into an underground chamber. It was about twenty meters across and circular. The walls, floor and ceiling were made of the same old scum encrusted stone. The floor was dry of water and it showed signs of habitation. _

_Human habitation._

_There were six empty sleeping bags around a small fire. Nearby there were two old looking tables topped with scrolls and a few pieces of old food._

_The first Guard looked back at his companion and motioned for him to follow. They walked into the chamber, glancing around for any clues as to who would be down here. He walked over to the table and picked up one of the scrolls. He opened it and his eyes widened as he recognised the plans to the Daimyo's mansion. He called over his partner and showed him the blueprints, eyes wide with shock at what this could mean. They needed to show this to their Captain._

_Suddenly the sound of quick, soft footsteps had them turning, swords raised to defend themselves. _

_They never had a chance._

_A moving shadow slashed at them and a flash of silver later the blood of the Guards covered the floor and the world went black._

* * *

Ino's eyes snapped open and she found herself back in the morgue. She let out a long slow breath and took a step back from the body, making sure to avoid looking at the brutal neck wound.

"Ino?" Kurenai asked, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Ino looked up at the raven haired Jounin and shook her head. "I'm okay Kurenai-sensei, the technique just takes a lot out of me."

"What did you see?"

Ino explained everything she could, leaving out no detail. By the end the others were frowning in thought.

"Can you think of any place like that Nee-chan?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms in a thinking pose he had picked up from somewhere.

Kurenai shook her head. "None that I know of but I haven't been in the capital that many time so we'll have to ask Captain Hizaki. You didn't see the attackers face?" She asked Ino.

She shook her head. "He was in the shadows and it happened too fast."

Kurenai shook her head. "Check the other one. I doubt that we'll get anything else but check anyway."

She was right. The second Guard's memory was even more deteriorated than the first's. There was only one other way that they would have a chance at a clue. Kurenai picked up the scrolls, placing them on the floor. She unrolled them to their full lengths, side by side to reveal a simple storage seal on each scroll. She placed her fingers to the parchment and forced her chakra into them, the seals issuing a large cloud of smoke. When it cleared there was two sets of bloody Guard uniforms and two katana. The three Genin gagged and coughed at the rancid smell that was emitted by the equipment, the odour affecting Naruto and Kiba more because of their sensitive noses.

"What the hell is that smell?" Kiba coughed, backing away from the equipment.

Kurenai wrinkled her nose and waved a hand in front of her face in a failed attempt to clear the air. "I don't know but it must be important." She waved the three children over. "Tell me what you see." They needed to learn to look for evidence and she wouldn't always be there to help.

They stepped up to the clothes. They had been put in the scrolls as soon as they were collected so they were as they were when they were found.

Ino was the first to speak. "Besides the smell, the blood patterns match the neck wounds."

Kiba was next. "The katana have no blood or nicks on the blade proving that they were not used."

Naruto completed the analysis. "The pants are wet from the knee down with some discoloration." He said, pointing to the pants. The clothes were black but there was some noticeable change in the shade of the fabric and off-coloured water was dripping off the pants and onto the scrolls.

"And there was no water near where they were found." Kurenai added. "Can you get a scent?" She asked Kiba.

The Inuzuka took a tentative sniff and gagged again before he shook his head. "There are too many mixed scents and it's hard to get any individual one. What about you?" He asked Akamaru. The little white dog yipped and barked up at his partner and Kiba sighed. "The same goes for Akamaru; can't pick apart the scents."

Kurenai sighed. No wonder the Guards called in ninja assistance, this was annoying as hell. No clues, no witnesses and no leads. Whoever did this was good she'd give them that. She got up from the floor and looked at her team. "Well since the only clue at the Grand Archive was a puddle of water that has probably already evaporated let's get back to our room and go over what we know. We'll go from there."

Team Kurenai left the hospital with damp spirits. This mission was not going as well as they hoped it would.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he walked down the streets. It had been two days since they arrived in Naien and the mission had come to a grinding halt. There were just not enough clues to give them any idea where to start looking for the one responsible for the murders and the thefts. They had asked Captain Hizaki about the tunnels Ino saw in the dead Guard's memory but the Captain couldn't think of a place like that so they were forced to resort to searching the city for a place matching the description and Hizaki said he'd tell his men to keep an eye out as well.

Right now Naruto was headed back to their rooms in the Daimyo's mansion. It had been his turn to fetch lunch and as the team hadn't been in the mood for the fancy things at the mansion he was forced to go out to find food for the team. In the bag hanging from his hand were some dango for Kurenai, some hotdogs for him and Kiba and a low fat, low calorie sandwich…thing for Ino. He had to wait for over ten minutes while she counted up how many calories she had eaten that week and was nearly sent head-first through the floor when he told her that she wouldn't get fat and that she would look even more pretty if she put on a few pounds. He never noticed the blush that bloomed across her cheeks as she made him kiss the ground.

He turned the corner towards the mansion and was immediately hit with a repulsive odour. A _strangely familiar _odour. He sped towards the source and soon found himself in front of a section off part of the street with construction workers going back and forth around a large crack in the ground where the smell was coming from.

Naruto called out to one of the workers. "Hey what happened here?"

The worker looked up, his eyes momentarily flicking to the hitai-ate tied around Naruto's head. "There was a rupture in one of the sewer pipes and the pressure cracked the pavement. We needed to section off the street to fix it."

Naruto's eyes widened as he pieced the clues together. He needed to tell Kurenai this.

* * *

"So the odour from the Guard's clothes was from the sewer?" Kiba asked. Naruto had ran back to the room and gathered the team and explained his findings. It finally made sense; the dirty water and the smells on the Guard's clothes was from sewer water and so the Guards must have been killed in a sewer tunnel. If he was right then they could locate their targets and complete the mission.

Kurenai saw a flaw in the explanation. "For nearly as long as the city has stood there were sewer pipes to carry away waste, not sewer tunnels. I don't even know if there are tunnels under the city."

"Ask Captain Hizaki." Naruto offered.

They sent a messenger to the Guard Captain and ten minutes later they were explaining their findings to him.

Hizaki sat and thought about it. "Well…I've heard stories about there being old tunnels under the Daimyo's mansion and the surrounding city blocks that lead out of the city. It was supposedly a series of escape tunnels that were built to get the Daimyo and his family out of the city in case of an attack. I don't know if those stories are true but there are a bunch of old looking metal doors in secluded parts of the city that could lead to the tunnels."

"Alright!" Kiba pumped his fist in the air. "Then let's go down there and kick their asses."

"No."

"Huh?" They looked at Kurenai. "What do you mean sensei?"

Kurenai folded her arms across her chest. "We shouldn't go rushing in just because we know where they are. Those tunnels are their turf and there are probably traps set up not to mention that they know the layout and we don't. Before we go down there you'll need some more training if were going to fight them down there."

"What kind of training?" Naruto asked.

"Well you need to learn to fight in the dark as to not hit your team mates, learn sign language like you were taught in the academy, fight in area where you have restricted movement like you would in the tunnels and you need to learn stealth. These enemies obviously know how to fight and can be dangerous. We can't wait too long or we'd risk another attack so we'll go down at the end of the week."

"What if they leave by then." Ino asked.

Kurenai shook her head. "If no one has found them by now then they probably think that they are safe where they are."

They spent the rest of the night planning the training schedule before they had dinner and stumbled off to bed for a nights rest.

* * *

The sloshing of disturbed water was the only sound that permeated the air as he moved. He was clad in a heavy, black cloak with a hood shadowing his face as he made his way back to their base camp. These tunnels were old but sturdy and secluded and were perfect for their operations.

He entered the chamber where they had set up their sleeping bags and lay out the maps to the city. It had only been a fluke that those two Guards had managed to stumble on the place after following one of his colleagues into the tunnels. After he killed the Guards he went and killed the colleague that almost revealed them. Failure was something that would not be tolerated.

He looked around the empty chamber. The others were up in the city attending to their own tasks. He spread one of the maps open on the table and swept his eyes over the plans to the Daimyo's mansion again. They were supposed to wait in the tunnels and carry out tasks as they received them.

The first task had been to steal important documents from the Greater Naien Bank which they managed to carry out without a hitch. They left no traces and got the documents back to the camp safely. It was a couple of days after that when the Guards found their camp. They were promptly killed and their bodies dumped in an alley in the city above.

Their second task had been to sneak into the Grand Archive and steal an old scroll. The one carrying out the task managed to get in but foolishly forgot to dry off the rain from his clothes and had alerted the Guards to the break-in. He had punished the boy harshly for his failure but didn't kill him as they could not afford to let their numbers dwindle too far.

They were expecting a new task any day now and he hoped that it would arrive soon. It got rather boring in the tunnels but he wouldn't move act until he was told to. He rolled up the map and went to sit in front of the fire, pulling a high nutrient ration bar from his pocket as he stared into the flames.

They had discovered that Yuhi Kurenai had entered the city with three Genin a few days earlier. They couldn't get specifics on the Genin, only that there were two blondes and an Inuzuka. They would be no problem if there was a fight but Yuhi was a true danger. A former pupil of the Sannin Jiraiya, Yuhi Kurenai was known throughout the Elemental Nations for her powerful genjutsu capabilities. She wasn't a powerhouse like her team mates Namikaze Minato or Uzumaki Kushina. Kurenai was one for smaller engagements and one-on-one fights. Even if all five of them fought her they would have a fight on their hands. They just had to hope it wouldn't come to that. Although if it did come to it then they could always use her Genin against her.

Emotions made you weak after all.

* * *

Ino flopped down onto her futon with a groan. They had just gotten back from their second night of stealth training. They were planning to go down into the tunnels tomorrow afternoon and already the nerves were getting to her. It would be her first ever real battle and if those dead Guards were any indication the enemies they were facing weren't scared to get their hand bloody.

That scared her more than anything. Over the past two months she had grown fond of Naruto and Kiba, she would even call them her friends and the thought of them winding up like those two Guards made her stomach twist uncomfortably. They had been taught since the academy that your team was like your family. They would watch your back and you would watch theirs to make sure everybody got home safe. She knew that over time they would build the kind of connection one only had with those that you would entrust your life to without question. It was also interesting to see what boys other than Sasuke where like (Not that she eyes for anyone other than Sasuke of course, she was just curious).

Kiba was funny and could make her laugh at times. She also knew that he was a good fighter and was even better when he was with Akamaru after all the times she sparred with him. She was also astounded to see that he had a gentle side when it came to animals. Whenever Akamaru got injured he would fuss over the little dog and help him as much as he could. When they had a mission at the Inuzuka Veterinary Practice she watched as he helped his sister carefully tend to sick animals that were brought in, even the cats that he had always clamed to hate. They still argued occasionally but it was more a battle of wits than before.

Naruto though was the one that interested her the most. She talked to him a lot but she felt that she hardly knew a thing about him. There was always this mystery to him that she couldn't figure out. Whenever she asked about his life before he came to the village he always became uncomfortable and gave vague answers or tried to change the subject. Other than his avoidance of his past she found him to be rather caring, smart, funny and…well, sweet. He was always kind to everyone he met, helped you if you needed it and could brighten your day with his mere presence. There was also this air around him. One of power and authority, of warmth and compassion. She didn't know why but she always felt safe around him and sometimes felt a strange fluttering in her chest when he looked at her.

There was also the strange things that happened when they walked through the village. He was bewildered when he noticed a large group of civilian girls staring at him. When he asked them if anything was wrong they broke out in a fit of giggles and blushed. He didn't know what the hell was going on but he politely answered the questions they asked him. Was he a ninja? What age was he? Did he have a girlfriend?

That question bothered Ino and she broke in, reminding Naruto that they had training to get to. He seemed relieved to be able to get away from the group of girls and followed her to their training. He never understood the looks the girls gave him but she did. They were the same ones that she and the other girls gave Sasuke. Ones of infatuation, adoration and in some cases, lust. She didn't know why it bothered her. She could see that Naruto was attractive. His spiky blonde hair, those cute whisker marks and his deep blue eyes made him stand out and gave him a strangely feral and exotic look. Throw in the muscles he developed from training and his personality and you have a pretty good catch.

She knew that she loved Sasuke. She was just looking out for Naruto. She didn't want him to get hurt or used by any of those girls, he was her friend. She was just looking after her team mate. Right?

She rolled over and covered her head with her pillow. This was all so confusing. Why did she keep thinking about him. Why did the looks the other girls gave him make her angry. She sighed into her pillow and forced herself to clear her mind and get to sleep. She couldn't go into battle tomorrow if she was dead on her feet.

* * *

It was late evening when Team Kurenai gathered around one of the rusted steel doors that lead down into the tunnels. The sun was low in the sky and sent orange rays of light across the dark purple heavens. They stood in an alley between the back gardens of two tenement buildings. They adjusted the communicators around their necks as Kurenai spread an old map out in front of them. The Daimyo himself had provided them after they asked about the tunnels. He gave them to them under the promise not to reveal anything about the tunnels existence to anyone.

"Okay." Kurenai said to get their attention. "The tunnels have numerous exits and are built to confuse those that aren't familiar with their layout. There is only one place where the enemy could hole up." She pointed to a large circle in the centre of the map. "Here. It's a chamber in the middle of the tunnel system and the only place for a group of people to stay in the tunnels and fit's the description Ino gave us from the dead Guard's memory. There are thee entrances to the chamber. Ino and I will take one entrance, Kiba and Naruto will take another and Naruto will create **Kage Bunshin **to block the last one. To avoid being detected we'll maintain radio silence and use chakra to walk on the water until we attack. They probably have traps set up so be on the lookout. Any questions?"

They shook their heads and Kurenai re-rolled the scroll and placed it into her vest pocket as she stood and turned to the door. She pulled out an old looking key and inserted it into the hole before twisting it with a metallic _click_. Kurenai had to pull the rusted door open and it gave a loud screeching groan as the entrance to the tunnels was revealed. It was a set of metal handles sticking out of the wall that formed a ladder down into the passageways under the city.

Kurenai went first and climbed down into the dark. She forced charka into her eyes to help her vision in the sunless environment and landed on top of the water with hardly a ripple. She stepped away from the ladder and looked down the tunnel. The tunnels were wide enough to allow three grown men to walk side by side and about four meters tall. The floor was submerged under a good three inches of dirty water and the occasional rat could be seen swimming through it.

She heard the others land behind her and she motioned for them to follow her. She led them down the tunnels towards the chamber where their enemies would be.

After five minutes they came up to a junction and Kurenai held up a hand to stop them. She silently motioned for Naruto to create two **Kage Bunshin**. After the clones appeared the group split up, Naruto and Kiba down one tunnel, Kurenai and Ino down another and the clones down another.

Kurenai led Ino forwards, bypassing any wire traps she found. The traps were rather crude but effective. A wire ran between the walls and attached to two small containers filled with nails. When the wire was tripped it pulled a pin in the containers and the nails were fired out in a wide blast pattern. It was brutally effective.

She finally notice the faint light of a fire coming from up ahead and she motioned to Ino. They pressed themselves up against the wall and slowly began to slide to wards the entrance to where their enemies were hiding.

Kurenai stopped outside the entrance, just outside the beam of light caused by the fire and peeked around the corner.

The chamber was exactly the same as Ino described. The walls were the same scum encrusted old stone as the rest of the tunnels but the floor was devoid of water. There were two old tables sitting against one of the walls covered in scrolls and parchment. In another corner were a pile of sleeping bags and a few travelling packs.

She glanced over at the other entrances and saw the vague shape of Naruto in the shadows, Kiba probably right behind him. She glanced at the other entrance and saw the clones were in position.

And there, huddled around the fire, were the thieves and murders they were after. There were five of them, clad in heavy black cloaks with hoods shrouding their faces in shadow. She couldn't see any weapons on them but they could be concealed under the cloaks. She was about to motion for the others to move when she heard the cloaked figures speaking.

"Do we know when we will be receiving a new task?" One of them asked, his voice a gravely monotone which sounded oddly muffled.

"We should receive word any day now." Another more feminine voice answered.

"There had better not be any more failures." A third voice warned, his tone folding the faintest trace of a threat.

"The only potential problems I can think of would be caused by the team from Konoha." The first voice commented.

"I don't think they will be a problem for much longer." The third voice responded mildly. His head shifted slightly to look over his shoulder. "What do you think Kurenai-san?"

Kurenai's eyes widened and she silently cursed. _'How did they know?' _She was sure they hadn't been seen. _'Could they have had some sort of sensors set up?'_. "How did you know?" She asked conversely, as though she had only been mildly surprised that they had detected her.

"You didn't hide your chakra signature. You may as well come out. Your Genin too."

Kurenai slowly pushed away from the wall and walked into the chamber, staying in front of Ino. These people seemed to be a lot more skilled than she first thought and if that was true then they were a lot more dangerous. She saw Naruto and Kiba, as well as Naruto's two clones enter the chamber, kunai in their hands and ready to attack at a moments notice.

"If you know who we are then you know why we are here." Stated Kurenai. "You will be taken into custody for the murder of two Naien City Guards and the suspected break-in of the Greater Naien Bank and the Grand Archive. Come quietly and you will live. Resist and we will be forced to use lethal force." She tensed as the group rose to their feet.

"I'm afraid we can't allow that Kurenai-san." The man said as he turned to her, his face still overshadowed. "We were ordered to remain here until told otherwise and we cannot go against orders."

"And whose orders were that exactly?" Kurenai asked warily, not liking where this was going at all.

"The true leader of Konohagakure," He said as he reached for his hood.

'_The true leader of Konoha?' _Kurenai's eyes went wide. _'Could he be talking about…'_

"The founder of ANBU and the architect of Konoha's future; Commander Danzou." He finished as he pulled back his hood. His face was covered by a porcelain Rat mask, brown markings covering it's white surface.

Kurenai could only say one word.

"ROOT…"

* * *

Naruto's eyes widened. What were ANBU doing here? Were they on a mission for the village? What was going to happen now?"

Naruto looked closely at the Rat masked ANBU. He didn't know why but he could have sworn he knew him from somewhere. But that didn't make sense. Before today he'd never even seen an ANBU, he'd only read abut them. He glanced at Kurenai and his brow furrowed in confusion. He knew these were Konoha ANBU because they were the only ones to use animal masks. The other villages used different masks like demon masks for Kumo ANBU and the skull masks of Iwa. If these were their allies then why was their sensei so nervous.

Kiba apparently shared his confusion. "Hey Kurenai-sensei, what the hell si going on?" He called over to her.

The Rat ANBU turned his head towards them and froze when he saw Naruto. "So he _was_ taken by Konoha." He murmured to himself. One of the other ROOT ninja pulled away their hood, long, twisted, shiny black ponytail falling to the back of the ninja's knees, help together at the end by a circular golden clasp. The ANBU's green and white Snake mask turned to look at Naruto.

"Fox." She spoke, her voice revealing her to be female. "We have orders to eliminate you on-sight."

Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion. "Fox? Eliminate on-sight? Nee-chan what the hell is going on?"

Kurenai whipped out a kunai and fell into a ready stance. "All of you listen. These are _not_ Konoha ninja, they are traitors. Despite that they are still well trained so exercise extreme caution."

Rat turned his head back to Kurenai. "We cannot let you leave here alive Kurenai-san, especially not Fox." He said as the ROOT ninja let their cloaks fall to the ground.

Kurenai's critical eye examined the traitors. Three of the enemy ninja, wearing Dog, Weasel and Salamander masks, were clad in the typical Konoha ANBU armour; grey armoured vests and forearm bracers over shoulder-length black gloves and form fitting, sleeveless black turtlenecks. Black pants were taped from the knee down into black sandals and their ninja-to swords strapped across their backs. The other two ninja were different.

The Rat masked ANBU wore the old Mk. III armour. He wore a grey Jounin vest underneath a thick armoured vest with straps going over his shoulder, holding it in place with armoured plates over his shoulders. The pants were the same but instead of the sleeveless turtleneck and long gloves, he wore a slightly baggy, long sleeved turtleneck. At the ends of the sleeves, instead of ending at the wrist there were fingerless gloves covering the hands and a pair of grey forearm bracers wrapped around his lower arms. Instead of a ninja-to there was a pretty vicious looking hook and chain at his side, its metal surface gleaming in the light.

The Snake ANBU wore a variation of the Mk. III armour. A tight, black, sleeveless turtleneck dress that fell past her knees that was split high at the sides showing a lot of her thighs was under the grey Jounin vest and chest armour with her kunai pouch strapped to her bear thigh. Her arms were clad in the shoulder length gloves like the others but lacked the bracers or the shoulder armour. Strapped across her lower back was a short sword and her feet were encased in a pair of knee length black kunoichi sandals.

Those two were going to be trouble Kurenai could tell.

"Orders, sir?" The Dog masked ANBU asked the Rat masked one.

He turned to face Naruto and Kiba. "Snake and Weasel engage Kurenai and the girl. Salamander destroy those clones then assist Snake and Weasel. Dog will engage Fox and the Inuzuka with me."

Snake looked at Rat. "Are you sure that is wise? Fox is extremely strong."

Rat unhooked his hook and chain from his belt. "He is still wearing his restraint collar. He won't be a threat."

Kurenai grit her teeth. Naruto and Kiba couldn't take on a Jounin yet, much less an ANBU. Her only hope was that they could stall long enough for her to get to them.

Suddenly the ANBU sprung into action. Snake and Weasel launched themselves at Kurenai as the Salamander masked one ran forward to engage the clones.

Kurenai blocked the stab from Snake's sword as she kicked Weasel in the chest sending him into the wall. Kurenai pulled out another kunai as she blocked a rain of lightning fast slashes from the other kunoichi. Sparks flew from the metal as Kurenai managed to deflect the attacks.

She used one kunai to push away the sword as she brought her fist down to crash into the side of Snake's head, sending her stumbling backwards.

Kurenai grabbed Ino and leaped backwards into the tunnels, their relatively narrow passages allowing her to fight both ANBU more easily without having to worry about Ino.

She just hoped Naruto and Kiba could hold out until she got there.

* * *

Naruto used his trench knives to deflect Rat's hook and chain as Kiba and a transformed Akamaru leaped for the Dog masked ANBU.

He created two clones to rush the ninja but they were quickly destroyed by the long chain of Rat's weapon.

The hook end of the weapon snapped out and wrapped around Naruto throat as he clutched at it. Rat gave a quick yank and Naruto's head was parted from his shoulders.

Right before he burst into smoke, the broken remains of a wooden stool in his place.

Rat spun around and launched the hook across the chamber at Naruto, who had used a **Kawarimi **to avoid decapitation. Naruto ducked the curved blade and tore across the ground towards Rat. When he was in range he drew his arm back, ready to bury his knife into the rogue ANBU's chest.

Rat had other plans. His free hand snapped out, smashing into the side of Naruto's skull and sending him crashing through one of the tables. As if that wasn't bad enough, Naruto had just received the memories from one of his clones that the Salamander ANBU had managed to destroy.

He glanced over at where Kiba and Akamaru were fighting. The Inuzuka duo had managed to relieve the ANBU of his ninja-to and were engaging in a rather vicious taijutsu fight. Even though it was two against one, the Dog masked ANBU was gaining the upper hand.

Naruto threw himself out of the way a second before Rat's hook and chain crashed through the remains of the table. He took a moment to catch his breath. There weren't a lot of options for him in this fight. It was too cramped and slippery for Capoeira and he couldn't use most of his jutsu without risking hitting Kiba and Akamaru or collapsing the tunnel down on them all. Damn his love of things that go boom.

Naruto's eyes widened. There was one thing he could do.

Rat took a swing at him, the hook of his weapon clutched in his hand. Naruto ducked under the blade and began to channel chakra through his hand. He managed to barely doge a few more strike before his glowing hand shot out and tapped Rat on the shoulder, causing his entire arm to go limp and drop his hook and chain. Not missing a beat Naruto kicked the thing across the chamber but paid for it when Rat's foot smashed into his stomach, knocking the air out of him and sending him flying backwards.

Rat glanced down at his arm. It was numb from the shoulder down and he couldn't move it an inch. _'He used __**Shousen no jutsu**__ to sever the nerves in my arm_._'_ He though before he brought his hand to his shoulder, green healing chakra coating his palm. He held it there for a few moments then let the green chakra die out, extinguishing the healing jutsu as he flexed his newly repaired limb.

Naruto groggily looked up at the again fitting fit ANBU and felt dread pool into his chest.

How the hell was he supposed to win?

* * *

Kurenai ducked Snake's sword and savagely kicked Weasel behind the knee, sending the ANBU to the ground as she spun on her heel to deliver a chop to Snake's throat which was skilfully blocked. Kurenai quickly grabbed the other woman's wrist and threw her over her shoulder, back towards Weasel and moved to stand in front of Ino. She paused a moment to catch her breath.

Throughout the fight she had noticed something odd. That woman Snake was ANBU level as she should be but Weasel had the skills of a mid-level Chuunin. The only reasoning she had to this was that Danzou was forced to train new operatives since his escape from Konoha. Training ninja took a long time, even longer to get them to ANBU level. _'Danzou must only be using his real ANBU for important missions and as squad leaders.' _She thought. This brought a sliver of hope to her. If the other ANBU were not as skilled as she first thought then there was more of a chance that she would get to Naruto and Kiba before something happened to them. She knew that Naruto could take one of the Chuunin level ninja, maybe even two of them but she had a feeling that that Rat ANBU was as strong as Snake.

Her musings were cut short as Weasel launched himself at her. She ducked under his punch and manoeuvred around to his back before delivering a punch of her own but the power behind the hit was reduced thanks to the ROOT agent's armour but was enough to send him stumbling forward. Kurenai spun in time to block a stab from Snake. She tried to kick her in the stomach but the traitor managed to bock with her knees. The two kunoichi were deadlocked, each trying to overpower the other.

Suddenly Kurenai heard a hair raising shriek and she risked a glance over her shoulder to see Ino franticly dodging Weasel's attacks but the young blonde was clumsy and uncoordinated and was loosing badly. Anger flooded into Kurenai's veins and she turned to Snake. She stared into the thin, dark eye slits of the ANBU' mask. She smirked before drawing her head back and slamming it into the ANBU's face, a little chakra coating her forehead to avoid concussion and pack a little extra punch. Snake's head snapped back and she was sent tumbling into the water as Kurenai turned to deal with the person attacking her student.

Ino was backed into a corner, lying in the water conscious but wounded, cuts and blood marring her skin and clothes as Weasel raised his sword to finish her off. In two long strides Kurenai was behind Weasel as she wrapped a hand around his wrist with more strength than one would expect from the elegant Jounin. She drove her foot into the side of his knee, breaking it and sending him to the ground as she wrenched the sword out of his hand. She stared down at him for a moment, cold fury blazing in her eyes before she raised one foot and brought it crashing down onto his throat, brutally snapping his neck.

She heard movement behind her and she turned to see Snake slowly raise herself from the water, a crack now in the direct centre of her porcelain mask. Kurenai rolled her shoulders and prepared to remove the last obstacle between her and her two students.

* * *

'_What the hell are these guys?' _Kiba thought as he fought to catch his breath.

He had been fighting the Dog ANBU while Naruto tried to avoid the psycho with the hook and chain. He was worried when he saw the guy in the Salamander mask destroy the last clone but breathed a sigh of relief when Naruto created another batch that swarmed over the ANBU and left him lying in a pool of his own blood. If he wasn't dead he soon would be. The cloned then split up, half going to help Naruto and the other half helping him. Kiba and his batch were squaring of against Dog but the ANBU was managing to fight them on equal ground and hold them at bay. Naruto was not so fortunate. His clones were quickly dispatched and he was barely avoiding Rat's attacks, cut and tears covering his skin.

He ducked a swipe of the ANBU's sword and back peddled away as one of Naruto's clones took up the fight. Kiba took out some bandages to patch up a cut on his arm as he glanced over to when Naruto and Rat where fighting. He hoped Kurenai-sensei would get there soon.

'_Naruto might not last for much longer otherwise.' _He thought grimly.

* * *

Naruto stumbled backwards away from Rat. He was covered by cut and blood and he was pretty sure he had a few broken ribs if the sharp pain in his chest was any indication. He looked up into the impassive face (or rather mask) of Rat. Besides the one time he managed to numb his arm, Naruto hadn't been able to land a decent hit on the damnable ANBU.

He created more clones and sent them forward only to see them destroyed by a swipe of the hook and chain. He swiped his hand over his wrist seals and let loose a barrage of shuriken which Rat nimbly dodged before sending his hook shooting towards Naruto. The blonde dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way.

Naruto rolled to his feet to see an extremely welcome sight.

* * *

Snake was launched backwards out of one of the tunnels and landed awkwardly before rolling to her feet. Her battle dress was torn and bloody and her mask was cracked. She looked worse for the ware but it was what came out of the tunnel next which lifted his spirits.

Kurenai, a little bloody and bruised, leaped out of the shadows. She landed with cat-like grace and examined the scene in front of her.

Kiba and a few of Naruto's clones were battling the Dog masked ANBU while a very battered Naruto barely managed to stand in front of Rat.

Her eyes were drawn back to Snake as the kunoichi slowly got to her feet. Kurenai tensed as she reached behind her back and drew her short sword.

The blade was rather thick, three inches thick and twenty long. The cross guard was of a silver snake winding itself into the shape of an infinity symbol at the base of the blade. Kurenai wondered why she hadn't drawn it in the tunnels as the weapon's small size would be ideal in the confines of the tunnel. She didn't have long to think on it before Snake threw herself at her.

Kurenai was forced back. The short blade seemed to be an extension of the rogue ANBU, the silver edge blurring in and out of existence as Kurenai franticly dodged left and right in an attempt to avoid decapitation.

One of Snake's swipes was way to short and would have obviously missed but something told her to duck.

That instinct save her life.

In mid-swipe the blade of the weapon separated into eight sections connected by a long metal cable. The twenty inch long blade extended to sixty inches as it sliced over Kurenai's head, severing a few raven locks.

'_A snake sword?' _The Jounin thought in confusion. Snake sword were vary rare and very hard to master, she had only heard of four other users in the last century alone.

She ducked another sweep of the elongated weapon and was forced back. The blade twirled around Snake like an elegant ribbon, the ANBU dancing within the confines of the deadly weapon as she attacked.

Kurenai hissed as the blade caught her shoulder and she brought her hands together for a genjutsu but was interrupted by a light cut grazing her face. Snake twirled the sting of razor edged blades around her before lashing out. Kurenai ducked one attack and turned to launch herself away when the worst possible thing happened. She slipped.

Kurenai couldn't bit back the cry of agony as the sword cut into the back of her knees, cutting the tendons and dropping her into a crumpled heap on the wet floor, blood spilling from her wounds.

"Kurenai-nee-chan!"

She heard Naruto's cry as Snake advanced on her, her sword once again short, and prepared to finish her.

* * *

Naruto saw the blade of the Snake kunoichi slice into Kurenai's legs and panicked. "Kurenai-nee-chan!" He called, fear for his big sister flooding his veins as Snake slowly advanced on her, ready to finish the job.

Rat took advantage of Naruto's distraction and viciously swung at him with the hook clutched in his hand. Naruto, in a fit of desperation, forced as much chakra into his legs as he could and launched himself backwards. He barely managed to avoid being dismembered but was still damaged. The cruel hook cut into the side of his neck and down his chest, tearing away the front of the mesh shirt and combat vest he wore as he launched himself backwards into the shadows of the tunnels.

Immediately Rat focused his chakra into his arm and threw his hook into the shadows after the boy. He yanked the chain back in an attempt to hit Naruto with the backstroke but jerked in surprise when the chain pulled taunt. He yanked at the chain again but to no avail.

He looked up when he heard slow measured steps make their way through the water towards him. From the darkness of the tunnels Naruto emerged, Rat's hook clutched firmly in one hand. The boy's eyes were empty, his face expressionless. It was a look that Rat had come to know and, despite his training, a look he had come to fear.

He slowly let his gaze fall to the spot where the blonde child had been standing a few seconds before. There, lying amongst a few bloody rags, was a black collar, the thick leather sliced in half.

Very slowly, almost as if hoping that by not seeing it would make it not real, Rat looked up into the ice cold shards that were the child's eyes and he swallowed as he met the gaze of the one person he feared most. He felt a shiver run down his spine as a haunting monotone voice drifted from the boy's mouth.

"Hello Rat." Said Fox.

* * *

**A/N: *Jumps into specially made, angry-reader-who-doesn't-like-cliffies-proof-bunker* Sorry about that but I can't give everything away at one time can I? I'll get to work on the next chapter soon.**

**SMALL NOTE: The Mk III armour I was talking about is the same one as worn by Jiraiya and Tsunade in the Rain Country flashbacks in the manga. To see what this looks like I'd suggest looking it up on google. It's much cooler than the crap ANBU are wearing nowadays.**

**Also if you think I should put Jutsu translations in brackets beside the jutsu in the story (Example no jutsu!) then leave a note with your reviews.**

**Jutsu translations. Jutsu marked with (*) are mine. Ask if you want to use them:**

**Tsuuga - Piercing Fang**

**Gatsuuga - Double Piercing Fang**

**Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu - Double suicide decapitation**

**Shintenshin - Mind Body change**

**Urooboe Souki no jutsu - Faint Memory Recall technique (*)**

**As always leave a review, it reaffirms your love for me.**

**Ja ne!**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I sure you'll be _happy_ to hear that I _still _don't own Naruto. (Apparently it's a crime to steal car parts to build Giant Robot Worms to take over the Narutoverse. Who knew? But beware of my latest plan………Kung Fu Grannies!!!)

**A/N: If you want an explanation, read the a/n at the bottom.**

* * *

"Hello Rat." Said Fox.

He stepped forward until he was just inside the chamber, no more than six meters away from the stunned ANBU. He quickly took everything in. Snake was advancing on Kurenai, her sword poised to end the Jounin and Kiba and a few clones were fighting another ROOT.

With a quick yank, he tugged the hook and chain from Rat's hands. Grasping it in one hand as he drew back his other he launched the hook at Snake's unguarded back.

Snake's spun at the last moment and deflected the projectile. She scanned for her attacker and her gaze settled on Fox, her eyes going immediately to his collarless neck. She brought her sword quickly across her chest, ready for any attack, but Fox didn't make any further aggressive moves. Instead he looked towards where Kiba and the clones were battling the last ROOT. He didn't move to help, but unleashed his killing intent in their direction.

Kiba, the clones, Akamaru, and Dog fell to their knees, gasping for air. It felt like ice water had been poured into their veins and a shiver tore up their spines, telling them to run, to get away as quickly as possible. Primal fear gripped them as they hesitantly looked towards the source.

Kiba's eyes widened when he saw Naruto. His every instinct was telling him that death was coming up on him fast and that his team mate was going to be the cause, but a small part of his rational mind was saying that Naruto would never hurt them. He very much doubted that now, especially when he looked into Naruto's eyes. They were cold, icy pits that seemed to glow in the dimly lit chamber, completely devoid of any hint of caring or compassion. Kiba shivered and let out a pained whine as he fell onto his side, his eyes never leaving the blonde's. For the first time since he'd met him, he truly believed that his team mate was going to kill him and feel absolutely no regret or remorse about it.

Fox kept up the flow of killing intent for a few more moments before letting it diminish, leaving a group of pale, sweaty, and shaking ninja lying in a heap on the floor. There was a rapid succession of loud pops as he dispelled the clones, not even flinching as the combined experience of their time under the effects of his killing intent hit him. He sorted through the information they had gained as they fought Dog.

'_He's an intermediate user of the Falling Willow kenjutsu style. His chakra level and the level of exhaustion from fighting the clones of a low-Chuunin level ninja and one Genin level ninja suggest he is of high-Chuunin level in skill.' _His eyes flicked to the other two ANBU. _'High-Jounin level, both of them. They won't be a problem.'_

Snake edged towards Rat slowly, as if any sudden movements would cause Fox to attack. She reached Rat and hissed, "What do we do?"

Rat took a breath to compose himself, mentally berating himself for allowing the restraints he had on his emotions to loosen, even for a moment. "We need to retreat and report back to Danzou-sama. We're no match for him."

"I can't allow you to do that, Rat."

Their attention snapped back to Fox, who just stared at them stoically.

Rat reached down and picked his chain off the floor, pulling his hook back to him as he spoke. "I beg your pardon?"

Fox watched as the Dog masked ANBU picked himself off the floor and stumbled over to his comrades as he answered, "You are an enemy of Konoha and a traitor at that. You will return to the village with us to face your punishment, or you will die here."

Though Rat's voice was the same haunting monotone as the rest of Danzou's emotionally stunted warriors, there was a sense of bemusement to it. "I believe you are mistaken Fox. I am not the traitor here."

Fox tilted his head slightly to the side, giving the impression of a raised eyebrow. "If you are not the traitor here, then who is?"

Rat pointed at him. "You are."

Fox's eyes narrowed dangerously, slightly unnerving his former comrades. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"You refused to follow orders that would have seen Konoha into a golden future, with the entire world coming under the rule of the Leaf. By not following those orders, you allowed Konoha to continue under a government that would see the Leaf wither and die."

"What I did," Fox spoke quietly. "Was pledge my life to protecting Konoha and it's citizens, not to a traitor with delusions of grandeur and dreams of war. If Danzou had things his way, Konoha would have drawn the combined hostility of the other nations and have entered into a war that would have led to it's destruction."

The whole time the two groups had been talking, Kiba had managed to shake off most of the residual effects of Fox's killing intent and crawl with Akamaru over to Kurenai, who was trying to heal her wounded legs with the meagre medical knowledge she had. Kiba pulled himself into a sitting position beside her, keeping an eye on the ANBU and the person that used to be his team mate. "Kurenai-sensei, what's going on? What are they talking about, and what's up with Naruto?"

Kurenai grunted in pain as she felt the tendons in her legs slowly heal thanks to the low level medical jutsu she was using. "I'll explain everything later, Kiba. Right now we need to focus. I need a few more minutes before I'm healed. What about you, any injuries?"

Kiba shook his head. "A few bruises, but that's it." He looked around quickly, suddenly realising something. "Where's Ino? Is she okay?"

Kurenai gestured towards one of the tunnels. "She was pretty badly beaten by one of the ANBU. I told her to stay put and heal up before--" She was cut off as she heard something moving through the water in the tunnels and she looked up to see a bloody, but healed, Ino run into the chamber, stopping just inside the archway.

She wasn't the only one to notice. Fox's gaze flicked to her, taking in her haggard appearance and scanning for any sign of further injury. Apparently this was the opening the ROOT ninja were looking for as Dog launched himself towards Fox, his sword poised to decapitate the boy.

"Naruto!"

* * *

Ino moaned in pain as she pulled herself off the ground and into a standing position. She had healed most of her wounds and just wrapped the smallest ones in bandages to conserve chakra. One of the first things Kurenai-sensei had done was teach them medical jutsu for just such an occasion, even though Naruto was the one they deferred to for medical treatment because of his small amount of training under a friend of Kurenai's called Rin

Slowly, she staggered forwards, her legs shaky from the adrenalin rush of the fight with the ROOT ninja. She scoffed. It hadn't been a fight, just her dodging until Kurenai-sensei had saved her. She shivered. The difference in skill and power between herself and the other ninja scared her. She had barely been able to avoid her opponent's attacks, any defence she had managed to put up being effortlessly batted aside by the enemy ninja's sword. If she hadn't slipped in the water, she'd have one less head and it had been her shriek of surprise that had alerted Kurenai-sensei to her predicament and allowed the older kunoichi to come to her aid.

She slowly and painfully began to make her way towards the sounds of fighting coming from up ahead. She began to think about what could have happened if Kurenai-sensei had not been there to help her, or had been cut off from her. She shivered. What if it had been one of the boys that was about to be killed and she couldn't go help them because she was no match for the enemy? They would have died and she would have to live with the guilt of knowing that it was her own inexperience as a ninja that led to a team mate's death.

She wavered and held out a hand to steady herself against the wall. Even just the thought of such a thing happening because of her was enough to make her stomach churn uncomfortably.

When she had been in the Academy, she had been considered one of the best kunoichi in the class, just behind Sakura in book smarts and behind Hinata in taijutsu. Her one clan jutsu, **Shinshinten no jutsu**, had always earned her extra marks on jutsu tests and she had been convinced that because she was from a clan and that her father had been a famous and powerful ninja, she would be a famous and powerful kunoichi.

She sighed. She had been delusional. The only girl in the _entire _class who was even remotely close to becoming a real kunoichi was Hinata and that was because she had actually taken it seriously. Every other girl had either talked about clothes or chased after Sasuke.

She thought about her sensei. Kurenai-sensei was one of the most powerful and well known ninja in Konoha, she was an authority on genjutsu and, if the rumours were true, had been an ANBU commander, she was considered a prodigy like her team mate Namikaze Minato, and had reached the rank of Jounin at the age of fifteen. No one got that kind of reputation or skill through dumb luck or pure chance, it took hard work and a will to fight. Ino shook her head. She didn't have either. The only thing he ever put any effort into was looking pretty or chasing after Sasuke.

She recalled their first meeting as a team, when Kurenai-sensei came to collect them from the Academy. She had asked them what their dreams where and Ino had said, "To take over for my father as the head of the ANBU Information Division.". How exactly did she plan on doing that? If she was brutally honest with herself she was only a little more powerful than the average bandit. She was average with the Academy taijutsu, only knew the basic Academy jutsu plus a few she learned from her father and Kurenai-sensei, and her chakra levels were as low as Sakura's. At the rate she was going she'd be lucky if she ever made it past Genin never mind ANBU.

"I need help." She muttered as she raced round a corner, the light from the main chamber glowing up ahead. It was true, she needed to get her skills up to whack and she needed the training to become a real kunoichi. She resolved that after this mission she would speak to Kurenai-sensei about some additional training. Although with the disaster that this was becoming, she may be too late.

She finally made it into the chamber where the others were and she rested a hand against the arch to catch her breath as her vision adjusted to the light.

She was not expecting what she saw.

Kurenai-sensei, Kiba and Akamaru were lying off to the side of the chamber, the Jounin healing a wound in her legs with a medical jutsu, while Naruto stared down the last three ANBU. The front of his vest was torn and bloody but he didn't appear to notice as he stood unwavering as a rock in the face of the three enemy ninja.

She saw his gaze pass over her, obviously taking in her less than flattering collection bruises and cuts. Her eyes widened as she saw the Dog masked ANBU shoot towards Naruto, his sword already coming down in an arc that would guarantee an immediate death. Despite the sheer panic rising blocking her throat, she managed to choke out a warning.

"Naruto!"

* * *

It happened in the blink of an eye. Just as Dog's sword came down, Fox's hand shot out to wrap around Dog's wrist just as he brought his right knee up to smash into the ANBU's gut, doubling him over and driving the air from his lungs. Without missing a beat, Fox wrapped his other arm around Dog's neck, trapping his head between the blonde's arm and torso.

Ino breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes as she placed a hand to her heart. That was too close. If Naruto could hold off the ANBU until Kurenai-sensei could heal then--

**SNAP!**

Ino's eyes snapped open as she looked on in disbelief at the limp form of the ANBU held in Naruto's arms and she slowly realised what happened. He snapped his neck. Naruto, kind, sweet _Naruto_, just broke the neck of the ANBU like it was the most common thing in the world, and the scariest thing was that he didn't look at all disturbed by this. His face was, for all intents and purposes, dead as he gazed at the last two ANBU.

Fox plucked the sword from the ninja's dead fingers as he allowed the body to slide to the grimy floor. He held the weapon loosely as he stepped over the body of Dog as he began to walk towards Rat and Snake.

The two ROOT ninja began to nervously back away from the teen before moving away from each other to split his attention.

But they weren't Fox's target. He walked past the rogue ninja to stand before the bloody form of Kurenai as Kiba quickly moved away from the blonde. Fox didn't seem to notice as he kneeled before his sensei, his hand glowing with healing chakra as he quickly began to heal her wounds.

Rat and Snake were confused by Fox's actions, but decided not to question their good luck and with a glance to make sure Fox's attention was elsewhere, they took off down one of the tunnels, towards one of the exits.

Kurenai also shared the ROOT ninja's confusion. While she was glad that Fox was healing her, they couldn't be allowed to leave. "Fox," she grunted past the pain. Fox's healing was effective but he didn't seem to care much for avoiding the pain. "You can't let them leave. Who knows what they managed to uncover while they where here."

Fox seemed not to hear her as he continued to reconnect the ligaments in Kurenai's legs.

Kurenai was beginning to get frustrated. "Leave the healing for later! We can't let them get away!"

"Don't worry." The glow died from his hands as Fox raised his head to meet Kurenai's eyes with his own. The gleam in his eyes was that of a hunter sensing his prey. "They won't get far."

Before she could say anymore, Fox vanished in a blur of speed. The silence of the after battle was deafening. Kurenai gently lifted herself to her feet, testing her healed legs. Fox was a good healer, she didn't even feel any residual pain.

The silence was broken by Ino's wavering voice. "What…what just happened?" She asked as she took a shaky step forward. She was still stunned over Naruto's actions.

She wasn't the only one shaken by her team mate's odd behaviour. Kiba got to his feet unevenly, clutching a whining Akamaru to his chest. The poor pup was still suffering from the blonde's killing intent. Kiba glanced around for his team mate and was relieved when he didn't see, smell or hear any sign of him. "We need to get out of here."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow at her dog-like student. "We still have a mission to complete, Kiba, and in case you forgot, your team mate is off fighting two Jounin level ninja."

Kiba looked back at her incuriously. "Didn't you see what he did!? He killed that guy like he was nothing! And when he looked at me…" He shivered. "He not safe!" Kiba backed down under the glare Kurenai sent his way.

Kurenai looked down at the dog partnered boy. Her face and body was calm but Kiba knew she was angry. "Kiba, you would do well to listen carefully to what I am going to say because I won't say it twice. As long as you are a member of my team, you will never abandon your team. Those who abandon the mission are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. So, Kiba, are you really worse than scum? Because if so then you are no longer a part of my team, and I can assure you that no one will ever trust you on a mission again."

Kiba's head was hung in shame. "Sorry, Kurenai-sensei. I don't really want to leave him behind, but it's just that…well, he scared me! That feeling when he looked at me…I just got freaked!"

Kurenai sighed, because she knew _exactly _what freaked Kiba and Ino out. The difference Naruto showed in personality and skill was glaringly obvious, it would have been a fools dream to hope that they wouldn't have noticed. This would take some explaining, but later, after the mission. Right now they had to get to Fox.

* * *

Their steps kicked up water as they sped through the tunnels. Rat and Snake tore around a corner and saw light ahead, indicating their way out. A barred gate at the end of the tunnel, the metal long since rusted, provided them an escape from their pursuer. The sunlight streaming through the hole was nearly blinding after so long in the dark of the tunnels, but their eyes quickly adjusted.

Suddenly Snake heard movement behind her. Her face whipped around just in time to see a glove clad fist before it smashed into her face, rocketing her backwards, smashing into Rat, and sending them crashing through the bars and out of the tunnel, into the daylight.

They were flung out in a cloud of dust and debris, onto a basin of water set low into the ground with high bushes and trees hiding the body of water, and a small stream leading the water away, most likely towards the ocean. The tunnel exit was set into a concrete wall along one end of the basin.

The ANBU managed to channel chakra into their feet before they sunk, and landed on top of the shimmering water, their eyes locked onto the tunnel exit. They couldn't get away now that his attention was on them, so they had one option: fight.

Fox stepped out of the tunnel casually, but stiffly, his dull blue orbs locked onto the two ROOT. Snake's mask, already damaged by Kurenai, began to fall away, and for the first time Fox saw the face of his former comrade.

The porcelain mask gradually fell in pieces, revealing a heart shaped face with pale skin framed by two bangs of luscious black hair that fell on either side of her face, the left bang shorter than the right, held up by a hitai-ate bearing a redesigned leaf symbol. She had high cheek bones and classical features set around eyes of deep violet that looked like two dark jewels. Snake was a beautiful woman, there was no denying. Not sexy, but more graceful and defined, like a high born lady. Hell, for all he knew, she _was _a high born lady. Danzou didn't care where you came from; if you were useful to him he would use you as he saw fit.

Fox lazily began to twirl his stolen sword in his hand as he stepped onto the water, his gaze continually flicking between the two ninja. With a sharp flick, he pointed the tip of the blade at Snake.

"You die first."

Then everything kicked off. The two ANBU tore across the water towards Fox, sending up trails of water in their wake as they raised their weapons.

Fox didn't move, but blocked Snake's sword with his own stolen one and knocked Rat away with a backhanded fist. He forced Snake's blade away and pushed her back with a swift kick to the gut as he ran through some hand seals.

"**Suiton: Suigadan!**" Twirling drills of water shot out of the basin and tried to impale the ROOT ninja, but they deftly dodged the attack.

Rat launched his hook at the deadly blonde, which was batted aside as Snake shook her snake sword out to it's full, deadly length. She twirled it around her body before launching a series of attacks, which Fox easily dodged. He leaned back under one of her swings and retaliated with a boot to the solar plexus which caused her to choke and stumble.

Fox took a few steps back as they came at him again and charged his sword with chakra just as Snake's supple sword struck out and Rat swung at him. Fox's hand snapped out and grabbed the kunoichi's sword by the wire between the blades and tugged it into the path of Rat's hook and chain. The two weapons wrapped around each other, tying them into a tangle of metal. He hefted his 'borrowed' sword and brought it down on the entangled blades and shattering them, and his own, effectively disarming the ninja.

Both ANBU dropped their weapons and leapt backwards as they performed hand seals.

"**Suiton: Daibakufu!**" Rat intoned. A massive tidal wave reared up from the water and advanced on Fox who stood unmoving in the face of the wall of water.

Rat's attack was quickly followed up by one from Snake. "**Raiton: Hatsudenki Nagare!**" Bolts of electrified energy flew from her hands and struck the tidal wave, supercharging the water before it swept over Fox's position and crashed against the tunnel wall behind him.

Snake landed beside Rat and peered into the foam and mist left by the wave. "Do you think we got him?"

Suddenly a hand burst from the water behind Snake, latching onto her long ponytail. Fox flew up, out of the water, twisting his body and pulling Snake off her feet and slamming her around into Rat's unguarded back. The two rogue Konoha ninja were launched across the water and crashed painfully into the wall beside the tunnel exit with a sickening crunch.

Rat grunted in pain as he pushed Snake off him and shakily stood to retaliate when a sharp jab sent his head snapping back to bounce off the solid wall again. He felt the front of his uniform gathered into someone's fist before a barrage of powerful blows rained down upon his face and gut, the protective armour failing under Fox's strength.

Fox continued to mercilessly bash away at Rat, leaving large dents in his armour and cracks on his reinforced mask. A part of the brown and white porcelain flew off, revealing one brown eye, the ruptured veins in it turning the rest of the eye from white to red. Fox met Rat's gaze unflinchingly as he continued to beat the life out of him. Any camaraderie they once shared was forfeit long ago.

He drew back his arm for a punch that would have turned Rat's head to mush when a long, supple leg lashed out and struck the arm holding Rat at the joint, breaking it.

Abandoning his attack, Fox kick backwards, away from the now conscious Snake and the battered Rat as he glanced down at his mangled limb. With a mental shrug, he grasped his limp wrist in a firm grip and with no hesitation, jerked his arm back into it's natural bend with an loud crack, feeling the chakra of his prisoner healing the bone.

Looking back to his opponents he saw Rat applying healing chakra to his broken body, but no sign of Snake.

Sensing an attack, he leaned his head back just enough to allow the kunoichi's punch to miss his face by millimetres before driving a knee into her gut, doubling her over. He grabbed the base of her ponytail in his hand and brought his knee up into her face.

Snake staggered back, grabbing and re-setting her broken nose, unmindful of the blood marring her beautiful features. Her face still the same cold mask, she came at Fox swinging, the two emotionally deprived ninja a whirlwind of painfully precise and powerful blows and parries.

Snake caught Fox's punch in her hand while driving a kunai into his eye with the other. Fox's remaining eye widened in surprise…before he burst into smoke.

'_**Kage Bunshin**__.' _Ran through Snake's mind before she felt movement behind her. In one fluid movement, she drew two kunai and spun to block a stab at her neck. The power behind the blow was immense and she was forced to channel more chakra into her feet to avoid being pushed back. She grunted as she pushed back against the deadlock she was in; her two kunai against Fox's one. It seemed almost comical that the tall ANBU was being overpowered by a child using one hand.

At the sidelines Rat had finally managed to heal the internal damage Fox had dealt him and staggered to his feet, his eyes focused on the two deadlocked figures on the water. He narrowed his eyes and slid a kunai from his pouch as he took aim at Fox's unguarded side. He drew his arm back and--

**SMACK!**

Rat grunted in pain as a kick to the spine launched him out onto the water, his kunai flying out of his hands and sinking to the depths.

Kurenai lowered her leg as she stepped out of the tunnel, Ino and Kiba following. She saw Fox and Snake in a battle of strength on the water, but kept her eyes on Rat as he slowly got to his feet before a scream diverted their attention.

Snake heard the Rat's grunt and her eyes flickered over to him for an instant.

It was all Fox needed.

With one hand keeping the deadlock, he raised his other and struck with imperceptible speed. Snake screamed in pain and dropped her kunai as she staggered back, her hand flying to her face as blood poured from under her fingers.

Fox glanced down at his bloody hand. A single violet eye stared back. With a sickening squelch, he crushed it and decided to finish her.

Spinning forward into Snake's guard, he drove the kunai in his hand through Snake's remaining eye and into her brain. She was dead before her body could register what happened.

Fox watched her fall backwards into the water, a pool of red radiating from her body, before turning his attention to the final remaining ROOT member.

Rat glanced at the Konoha ninja at his front and back. If it was possible for a ROOT member to feel nervous then Rat would have been a wreck by that point. It was bad enough that he was fighting Fox with no backup, but now Yuhi was back in the fight. This was definitely not his day.

He needed to get out of there and report back to Danzou-sama. He couldn't match Fox, but there was a good chance he could beat Yuhi. Before anyone could stop him, he ran through a series of hand seals before dunking his hand into the water. "**Suiton: Goshokuzame!**"

Fox dived to the side to avoid the large condensed water shark that sprang out of the water, chakra solidified teeth snapping at the space he occupied a moment before. He barely touched the water before he was forced to dodge another shark. Within moments Fox was forced into resorting to jumping around the water like a madman to keep from becoming fish food while Rat leapt towards Kurenai.

The raven haired kunoichi blocked his punch before cracking him across the jaw with her elbow. Rat staggered back, but recovered in time to block a potentially painful kick to the sides. Kurenai tried to slice his throat open with a kunai, but the ANBU caught her wrist and twisted, forcing her to drop it. Kurenai managed to bring up her foot and kick the ANBU out onto the water as she performed some hand seals for her trademark jutsu.

"**Magen: Jubaku Satsu!**" Kurenai disappeared in a gust of wind. Rat recognised the genjutsu and tried to bring his hands up to dispel it. The keyword being 'tried'. He looked down and saw that his legs and wrists were being held by a tree growing out of the water. He struggled, trying to get loose when he sensed movement above him. Looking up, he saw Kurenai seemingly growing out of the tree. Rat frantically tried to redirect the flow of his chakra to break the genjutsu, but it was proving difficult as the genjutsu was messing with his perception more than it should. It seemed Yuhi Kurenai's title as a Genjutsu Mistress wasn't just for show.

"Any last words?" Kurenai smirked down at him as she drew a kunai.

Rat glanced up at her. "None at the moment."

Kurenai just shrugged as she prepared to put Rat down for good when she suddenly felt the genjutsu around them flicker and die. Rat immediately put some distance between them as Kurenai looked on in disbelief. He didn't use and hand seals to dispel the genjutsu or redirect the flow of his chakra so how…

Her eyes widened even more when she saw his hand, and the mangled finger attached to it. The sneaky little bastard broke his own pinky to break the illusion.

'_Heh, now I know why they call him Rat.' _She thought.

Suddenly a blur shot over Rat's shoulder and landed in front of Kurenai a moment before a thin wall of transparent water shot up, blocking them from Rat, and Rat from them.

Rat cocked an eyebrow. "Do you think a wall this thin will stop me?"

Fox tilted his head to one side and pointed to something behind Rat. "No, this is just here to stop your pets from getting us wet."

Rat's head turned sharply to see a large, tooth filled mouth before the shark's jaws clamped around him, snapping bones like they were twigs. The other four sharks barrelled into them, causing the chakra bodied creatures to explode, sending red, frothy water shooting into the air, and splattering against Fox's shield.

Fox let the shield drop and stepped up to Rat's corpse, Kurenai just a step behind. She looked at the chunk of bloody meat that was Rat appreciatively. "Well…that was unexpected."

Fox inclined his head slightly. "One of the drawbacks of using **Suiton: Goshokuzame**; the sharks will go through any obstacle to get to their prey, including their creator. Many don't use it as you have to keep an eye on both your enemy and the sharks. They won't attack their creator on purpose, but you should keep out of the way of them."

Kurenai could only nod. "Good to know."

They heard footsteps on the water and turned to see Ino and Kiba making their way towards them unsteadily. Kurenai could understand; water walking got harder when you were walking on deeper water. She was just happy that her Genin caught onto tree climbing so easily so she could teach them water walking. It was the very first thing she taught them.

She was broken from her musings by Fox saying, "I'll collect the bodies." Without waiting for a reply, he walked towards Snake's floating corpse and proceeded to search her.

Kurenai watched him for a moment before walking up to Ino and Kiba, both of whom where shooting glances at Fox. Ino looked up at Kurenai. "Sensei?"

Kurenai nodded wearily. "It's over."

Ino nodded and glanced around her sensei to look at Fox who was busy sealing Rat's wrecked body into a scroll. His work finished, he stood and cracked his back before turning and walking over to his other half's team. "It's done." He told Kurenai.

She nodded to him and turned to see her other two students giving him uneasy looks. Fox didn't even seem to notice. She sighed. How the hell was she going to explain this? She shook her head and motioned for her team to follow as she walked back towards the tunnel. She'd explain after the mission. For now, they had a job to do.

* * *

After searching the tunnels, and retrieving all the stolen goods from the bank, they gave a report to the Daimyo and left for Konoha. Neither Ino nor Kiba brought up the subject of Naruto's strange behaviour, but Kurenai knew that the discussion was right around the corner. Both Kurenai and Fox agreed that it would be far safer if Fox was in control of his body until they made it back to Konoha, after which he would create another collar.

Ino and Kiba's confusion was only heightened one night while they travelled home. After collecting wood for the fire, their blonde team mate whispered something to Kurenai. The Jounin looked confused, but nodded nonetheless and they watched Fox walk off into the forest.

Fox walked between the trees, his head swivelling from side to side, seemingly looking for something. After about an hour he came upon a waterfall in a clearing. He hefted himself on top of a rock and sat with his legs cross, Indian-style. He took a few deep breaths and calmed his body. Before long, he began to feel his conscious fall away into the deepest part of his mind.

* * *

He awoke in a cavernous, cylindrical room. The walls and floor were made of dull, grey concrete. The ceiling was made of crisscrossing bars, letting sickly yellow light invade the space. Along the walls were massive racks of weapons, diagrams, and maps. There were corridors leading away from the main room, but it was the one in front of him that he was interested in. It was no different from the others, but this was _his _mind and he knew instinctively that it was the one he was looking for. He walk for a year or a second; time had no meaning here. He finally reached his destination: a reinforced steel door. He grasped the handle and pulled it open with a loud screech. At his feet was a peculiar sight: there was about five inched of murky water that just stopped in midair at the threshold of the door, not a drop going past the boundary. He walked through the door, only to be greeted by something that made gravity defying water appear normal.

He stepped into a large, rectangular chamber. The walls were a deep, almost black, rusty crimson. Torches along the walls provided light, but it was the same as the sickly yellow as the rest of his mind. One of the shorter walls, however, was replaced by a colossal gate, the pillars of which were thicker than most of the trees around Konoha, and stretched far upwards, disappearing into the shadows. None of the light seemed to penetrate the gate, leaving an abyss of endless shadows.

Fox paid no attention to any of this. Instead he kept his eyes locked onto a door directly opposite of the one he just entered from. It was varnished wooden door with a brass handle. He pushed it open and entered an area that was even more out of place than the previous two, if that was even possible.

The floor was covered by a deep red carpet, the walls decorated with light cream wallpaper. Light was provided by lamps along the walls, giving the place a warm feel. The walls were decorated with picture frames, but he didn't glance at them.

He continued along the hallway until he entered what appeared to be a sitting room. Bookcases lined the walls, filled with various tomes of knowledge. Stylish black leather furniture was set beside a wall made of floor to ceiling windows which were pitch black, as if it was night. It was on one of the couches that Fox found what he was looking for.

The boy was his exact double. The same blonde hair, the same whisker-like birthmarks, and, even though he couldn't see it, the same seal on his belly. He was wearing very simple clothes; a baggy white t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants. One of his arms was thrown over his eyes, his mouth slightly open as his chest rose and fell slightly in his sleep. All in all he looked rather peaceful. That had to change. Fox grabbed the couch and tilted it, causing his twin to fall to the ground with a loud thud.

Naruto groaned in pain from his position on the floor. He'd been having the best dream; involving ramen, a hot tub, and six bikini-clad beauties. Hey, he wasn't a pervert, but he was getting to the age when hormones found it funny to mess with your mind. Grumbling, he blearily looked up to see who to thank for his rude awakening, only for his eyes to bulge comically when he saw…himself.

The…him that wasn't really him was wearing the old Mk. III ANBU armour, complete with full torso, forearm, and shoulder armour, the grey Jounin jacked the exact same shade. His black clothes making his hair seem all the more bright. A plain , black, guard-less katana poked over his right shoulder, and a white Fox mask was clipped at his side, stylish red marking swirling around it's eye slits. When he looked at his alter ego's face, he shivered as he saw one thing that set them apart. His eyes. They were empty, not even dead; they had to have had life in them at one point to be dead. They seemed soulless. Naruto couldn't help but shift backwards slightly.

"Who…who are you?" He asked tentatively. He thought this would be what it felt like to stand in front of a wolf; any sudden movements or loud noises and you go bye-bye in a very savage and bloody manner.

Fox didn't move a muscle, but said, "I'm you."

Naruto's brow scrunched up in confusion. "Uh…no, I'm me."

Fox shook his head slightly and moved to sit on one of the chairs, leaning forward on his knees and resting his chin on his threaded finders. When Naruto didn't move, Fox flicked his eyes towards the couch. Naruto caught on and scrambled into his seat. Neither said a word for a few moments and Naruto started to fidget under Fox's unblinking stare. He jumped when Fox's baritone voice broke the silence.

"What do you know of your life before Konoha?"

Naruto stared at Fox, confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean; what do you know about your life in the facility you lived in before you were brought to Konoha by Yuhi Kurenai?"

Naruto shrugged. "Nothing really. I know I had to study and train for something."

Fox nodded ever so slightly, as if confirming something with himself. "And what do you know of a man called Danzou?"

Naruto closed his eyes, trying to remember. "I've heard of him somewhere. I can't remember what it was, but he's supposed to be a big deal right now."

Fox blinked slowly and breathed in deeply through his nose. This was going to take a while. "Danzou was a former Elder of Konoha, and at present, is wanted for numerous charges of treason, murder, extortion, blackmail, kidnapping, and many other minor charges against Konoha and the Land of Fire."

Naruto's eyes were wide. That was quite a rap sheet. "Why did he do all that?"

"Because he is a very manipulative old man who wishes to overthrow the Hokage and conquer the Elemental Nations."

By now most of Naruto's face was taken over by his eyes, his eyebrows vanishing into his hairline. Fox decided it would save them time if he explained it all at once.

"A few years ago, Danzou and his ROOT operatives attempted a coup. During the battle they managed to capture several key structures in Konoha, including the Arena and the Assassination department in the tunnels under Konoha. They were outnumbered but had the element of surprise. No one expected to be attacked by an army of their comrades. It was only after Jiraiya of the Sannin intervened that the battle was turned and Danzou and his ROOT were driven out of Konoha. At the moment Konoha is engaged in a sort of civil war against ROOT."

Naruto silently absorbed this. Now he knew why he hadn't heard of Danzou or the coup; ANBU were the most secretive of all Konoha ninja. It's possible that the entire war between Konoha and Danzou could be fought without the general populace even knowing. Some things still didn't add up though.

"Okay, that's good to know." He said slowly. "But that doesn't explain why your telling me this or even why I'm in a strange place, talking to someone who looks exactly like me."

Fox sighed and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and crossing his leg so that his right shin was resting on his left knee. He closed his eyes for a few seconds as he thought about how to word this. Keeping his eyes closed he spoke, "Do you know anything about the collar you wear?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. He hadn't been expecting that question. "Just that I've had it all my life, that I can't seem to take it off, and that when it is taken off I black out."

Fox held out his hand and suddenly, to Naruto amazement, a black collar identical to the one he always wore appeared in his palm. He tossed it across to Naruto, who caught it. "Take a look."

Naruto followed his order willingly. He had never really got a good look at the collar before, only catching glances of it in reflections. It was mostly made of plain, but strong, black leather, with metal clasps at both ends of the strap. Noticing something strange, he leaned forward and noticed seals embossed onto the inside of the strap. "Hey, why are there seals on my collar?" He looked up at Fox.

Fox folded his arms again. "Those are Suppression seals. They were used to keep me restrained. There is also a Repulsion seal on the clasp to stop you from removing the collar yourself."

Naruto blinked as a sudden thought occurred to him and he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I haven't even asked your name."

Fox didn't give any indication of being offended, but answered, "I don't have a name, but I go by my codename: Fox."

"Wait a minute, that's my old name!"

Fox resisted the urge to sigh in frustration. For all his academic knowledge, his alter ego seemed a bit thick. "Don't you realise what I'm telling you? I _am_ you. I am another fragment of your mind. The seals on that collar were designed to repress me and allow you full control over _our _body."

Naruto's jaw hit the ground. "Are you telling me that I have MPD or something?"

"That is exactly what I'm telling you."

Naruto flopped back onto the couch. His day was just full of surprises. He looked back at Fox quizzically. "Wait, if you're my alter ego, then how am I sitting here talking to you? I've heard of people hallucinating about meeting their other identities, but I've never heard of them imagining entire settings." He said, glancing around the strange room.

Fox nodded. "That's true, they've never imagined anything like this in their conscious mind. But how many have ever ventured into their subconscious mind?"

Once again, Naruto's jaw graced the floor as he looked around at the room with new eyes. Without even turning back to Fox, he asked, "Are you saying we're actually _inside _my…well, _our _subconscious?"

Fox nodded. "What you see around you is a visual representation of your mind, constructed by your subconscious to house your conscious in the surroundings it would be most comfortable in."

"Wow." Naruto's head continued to swivel, gazing at his surroundings in amazement. After a few minutes he looked back at Fox, who had continued to stare at him unblinkingly. "I'm guessing there's more?"

"Yes. Danzou will come after us. I used to be his top agent and favourite weapon and now that I've defected, I pose too great a risk to him and his plans. A few months ago, before we were brought to Konoha, I was still under Danzou's command. When he unveiled his plans for another coup attempt, I tried to execute him, but I was stopped. From what Rat and Snake said, Danzou will have his agents actively pursuing us."

Naruto blanched. "Are you telling me that we'll have an army of ANBU level ninja running after us?" He'd heard enough rumours about ANBU to know that they were the best Konoha had to offer and his recent memories of fighting Rat reminded his just how gifted they were.

Fox shook his head, dispelling Naruto's fears. "Danzou doesn't have access to the amount of manpower and recourses he used to. Remember the fight between us and the ROOT ninja? Only Rat and Snake were high Jounin level, the others were high Chuunin level at the most. Danzou isn't foolish enough to send someone as weak as that to try to kill me. He needs his most skilled soldiers alive if he wants control of Konoha. If he does send someone to kill me it'll be a big risk on his part because there would be a very high chance of him loosing those agents." He was being matter-of-fact about this. He never boasted; he didn't need to.

Naruto nodded in relief as he rubbed his head where a small headache was beginning to develop. "One more question: Why did Danzou do this to us; turn you into a weapon and keep me locked up?"

Fox thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Danzou will use whomever he wants to further his plans. There is a main point as to why he chose us specifically, but I have a feeling that it will be revealed once we reach Konoha and that it would be better if you waited to find out. Plus there are parts of it that even I don't know about."

Naruto scowled at that. He hated not having all the pieces to a puzzle, but he let it go for now. "Okay."

"Good." Fox sat up a little straighter. "There is one more thing me must discuss. With Danzou seeking to eliminate us, and with you being in primary control of our body, you need training."

Naruto tilted his head to the side, confused. "What do you mean? I have training."

Fox shook his head. "It is true that you have adequate _basic _training, enough to dispatch someone of mere Chuunin-level skill, but that wont be enough. You are aware of how easy Rat beat you. If it wasn't for your poor avoidance of his attack then the collar wouldn't have been removed, I wouldn't have been released and we would both have died."

"Fine, so I need more training. I'm sure Kurenai-nee-chan could help."

Fox shook his head. "While Kurenai-san would help you, she has obligations to her other students and it would hinder you if you have to slow down so that they can keep up. Also her emotional attachment to you would cause problems. She cares for you too much to push you to your limits. She would train you properly, yes, but would take into account trivial things like your comfort and feelings."

Naruto's eye twitched. _'Wouldn't exactly call those things trivial…'_

Fox continued on, unaware of Naruto's annoyance. Or maybe he just didn't care. "For you to receive adequate training, you must have a teacher who strives for one thing: to make you strong. This rules out Anko-san, Rin-san, and your other previous trainers as they have obligations with their own students."

Naruto scratched his cheek. "Well, those are about the only people I know who could train me to the level you're talking about…" He trailed off, looking at Fox. "You?"

He nodded. "I know how strong you need to be, have in depth knowledge about ROOT tactics and I can push you to the level you need to be."

"But how can you teach me? We're inside my mind; none of this is real, and we can't both be in control of our body for you to train properly."

Fox made a 'come here' motion with his index finger, so Naruto got up from the couch and stood a few feet away from Fox.

He motioned him closer.

A little more…

A little more…

**SMACK!**

Naruto hit the floor, clutching his broken nose as blood poured from between his fingers. Tears of pain dribbled from his eyes as he painfully snapped his nose back into place. Holding his nose to stem the blood flow, he glared up at his other half, who'd gone back to sitting with his arms crossed. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!"

Fox seemed unperturbed by Naruto's anger. Either that or he just didn't care. "It was a demonstration. Your get hit; your expect to feel pain so your mind supplies pain. Coupled with the fact that you can perform jutsu here, create weapons with a thought, train in any condition, never suffer from chakra exhaustion, and can even be killed and brought back to life he over and over again, and this proves to be the best place for your training. This way I can train you enough before the merger."

"What merger?" Naruto grumbled as he ambled back to the couch, throwing a dirty look at Fox. The bastard didn't even seem guilty that he decked his other conscious.

"The merging of our two conscious. We will cease to be Fox and Naruto and become one whole being; the person we truly are. It won't happen for many years, but it is important that you have sufficient knowledge to use these skills your naivety overshadows my training."

Naruto wiped the blood from his face as he asked, "How do I even get here?"

"By meditating. You've never tried it so that's why you're always asleep when I am in control. Since I have the experience, I have been able to venture into your mind and review your memories and by looking out of the windows I can see what you see." He gestured to the large windows that showed nothing but darkness.

A sudden thought occurred to Naruto. "Wait a minute, if you've been able to see my memories then why ask me all those questions to see what I knew? Weren't you already aware of what I know?"

Fox shook his head. "No. I can only see your memories, not read your thoughts. Only memories of what happen in the real world are stored here, not your thoughts. I haven't had a reason to check so I don't know if memories of what happen here in the mindscape are stored. I'll have to check that."

Naruto nodded his agreement, thankful that his private thoughts would be kept secret. "So…what now?"

"I must be getting back to our team, I estimate that I've been gone about an hour and I'd imagine they are starting to worry." Fox said as he stiffly stood from the chair. "I'll be keeping control of our body until we reach Konoha, until I can create another collar."

Naruto scrambled out of his chair too. "Wait! What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Fox pointed to the window. "Watch." He tapped his ear. "Listen." He tapped his temple. "Learn." With that Fox vanished from the mindscape, leaving Naruto alone. With little else to do, he flopped back onto the couch, watching in amazement as the inky blackness of the window cleared, showing him what his real eyes were seeing.

* * *

Fox walked back into the clearing, throwing Kurenai a nod, and sat down in front of the fire as he rummaged through his pouch. Finally he extracted a spool of thread and a needle. He paused, at a loss, before turning to his team mates. "Kiba-san."

Kiba jumped from where he was huddled with Ino. They had just been discussing their team mate's strange behaviour. "Y-Yeah Naruto?"

"I need your belt." He said, holding out his hand for the article of clothing.

Kiba was taken aback by the request and opened his mouth to tell Naruto to get his own damn clothes when he remembered what his blonde comrade did to those ANBU. That and the fact that Naruto's eyes were really freaking him out. They seemed to pierce his very soul in their intensity. "S-Sure Naruto. No p-problem." He quickly removed his belt and handed it over. They watched as the blonde looked at the leather before wrapping it around his throat until it was tight, but not so much as to cause suffocation or hinder his movement. He then pinched the leather strap a few inches away from where the buckle and brought his kunai through it, shortening the belt by several inches.

"Hey!" Kiba shouted as he watched his team mate slice his belt apart. He moved to stop him, but was stopped himself when he felt Kurenai's hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her in confusion. "Sensei?"

She shook her head. "Leave him. I'm pretty sure he has a good reason for doing what he's doing and I'll see that you're reimbursed for it."

Having a decent length with which to work with, Fox brought up the spool of thread and bit his finger before smearing the blood over the white fibres until all the white was replaced by red. He then threaded the needle and began to sew designs into the inside of the collar, the tiny drill of wind chakra around the needle piercing the thick leather easily.

His team continued to watch him work for a while before drifting off to sleep, leaving Fox to his work.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They were back in Konoha the next day, waiting outside the Hokage's office to be called in. Ino and Kiba were chatting quietly while Kurenai was mentally going over what she would say in her report and Fox was still working on Kiba's belt. He hadn't said a word to anyone since the night before, instead opting to focus on his work.

"Yuhi-san, Hokage-sama will see you now." The receptionist called. Kurenai herded her team into the office until the stood before Sarutobi's desk. Even Fox stopped his work as they stood before their leader, but immediately took it up again when they were told to stand at ease.

Sarutobi smiled at the team. "Well, how was your mission? I take it that you were successful in solving the crimes?"

Kurenai nodded. "Yes sir we did. However we ran into some unexpected trouble."

"What kind of trouble." Sarutobi asked as he furrowed his brow.

"ROOT."

Sarutobi's eyes immediately flicked to the only blonde in the room, saying the distinct lack of collar. His whole demeanour changed from that of the kindly old Hokage to that of a seasoned general. "Report!"

Kurenai filled him in on everything that happened during the mission, from when they left, to their visits to the crime scenes, all the way up to when they entered the tunnels. At some point during all this, Fox finished his work on Kiba's belt and simply stood with his arms folded behind his back. When Kurenai reached the part about getting injured she looked at uneasily at Fox and then at her other two students and sighed. _'Oh well, it had to come out sometime.'_

"When I was injured the Rat ANBU used it as a distraction to attack Naruto. He managed to avoid he attack, but not without incurring a flesh wound around his neck and chest." She bit her lip. "At that point…Naruto's collar was severed."

A silence descended upon the room. Sarutobi sat contemplating this while Ino and Kiba shot everyone questioning looks, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Only Kurenai and Fox seemed unaffected as they both stared straight ahead, waiting for the silence to be broken. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Sarutobi looked at Fox and asked, "Do you think we should tell them?"

"Yes." Fox droned in his usual monotone. "It will help them in the long run."

"And how much should we tell them?" Sarutobi's eyes asked the hidden question.

Fox's icy orbs answered that question. "_All_ of it."

Sarutobi sighed and motioned them all to sit down. This would be a long discussion. "Okay then. Do you wish to tell them or shall I?"

"If you could explain Danzou and ROOT, I'll explain the rest, sir."

So he did. For the next half hour, Sarutobi told Ino and Kiba all about Danzou's efforts in toppling the government and controlling Konoha. Since the coup attempt had been remarkably quiet, they weren't aware that they were technically at war.

Finally Sarutobi finished up. "So let me get this straight." Kiba said. "This old guy wants to take over Konoha, turn us all into emotionless weapons, and try to take over the world?"

Sarutobi nodded. "That's basically it in a nutshell. We've been able to thwart their raids in over the last few months, but it has proven difficult to find their bases."

Ino raised her hand shyly. Sarutobi smiled and nodded for her to speak. "This is all interesting, but what has it got to do with Naruto?"

Sarutobi looked at Fox who nodded imperceptibly before he turned to his two team mate's. "It pertains to me, Ino-san, because I was formerly one of Danzou's top agents in ROOT."

This got a very natural and understandable reaction from the two Genin.

"YOU WHAT!?"

Kurenai and Sarutobi mentally winced at Fox's abruptness. _'That's one way to go about it I guess.'_

Ino and Kiba both stared bug eyed at the blonde, who sat there as if it was an everyday thing to confess that you used to be a major player in a rogue ninja faction.

Ino was the first to snap out of it. "What do you mean Naruto? How could you have been one of this Danzou guy's soldiers? You said that you were raised outside Konoha by an old family friend."

Fox regarded her with his frosty gaze. "I did fight for Danzou, the past I told you about was a cover story, and I have no friends or family. For that matter, my name isn't even Naruto."

Ino sat stunned as this, until the Hokage interjected. "I'm afraid it's true, Ino. Naruto was taken by Danzou at birth and moulded into a living weapon."

Ino gave a rather impressive imitation of a fish as she tried to formulate a response, but finally Kiba managed to contribute to the conversation. "Wait! Is that what happened in those tunnels when we were fighting? I mean you wiped the floor with those ANBU!"

Fox simply nodded. "Yes, that was a result of my training."

Something didn't add up for Kiba though. "But if you could do that then how did they manage to beat you around so bad when we first started fighting? I mean no offence, but that Rat guy was mauling you. In fact your entire demeanour changed at some point."

Fox gestured to his neck. "Do you remember the collar I wore, Kiba-san?" He waited for the nod. "That was used to restrain me. I am in fact a alternative personality from the one you already know, the one you call Naruto. When the collar was removed I was able to take control of our body and engage the ROOT operatives."

Ino spoke up uncertainly. "So…you're _not _Naruto?"

"I am, but I am not."

Both Genin looked confused before Kurenai clarified. "Who we are talking to right now is Naruto's other personality. He is a whole other person from the Naruto you know. _Naruto _is the boy you've been training with all along, _this_ is his alter ego, basically this is the former ROOT ninja."

Ino nodded slightly. "So if you're not Naruto, then who are you?"

"I do not posses a name, but I have been routinely referred to by my codename: Fox."

"I think it would be prudent to give the real story of Naruto's, and Fox's, lives before they came to Konoha?" Sarutobi suggested to Fox, who nodded his consent. Sarutobi then proceeded to tell them about everything they knew about Naruto and Fox's separate lives before they were found. He told them of Fox training and Naruto's imprisonment, of Fox prodigy status and Naruto's private study in solitude, and moved on to tell them of Fox's missions, his discovery of Danzou's treachery and his subsequent capture.

Ino let out a small gasp when she heard that he'd been sentenced to death, and shot Fox a concerned glance out the side of her eye. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. All this time she thought Naruto was just a kind, and smart, guy from out of town, when in actuality he was the former weapon of a bunch of traitors. She couldn't imagine what his life must have been like. She didn't know what was worse; having your humanity, emotions, and self worth stripped away and thrust into killing at far too early an age like Fox had been, or being locked in a small cage with basically no one to talk to for twelve year where your only source of comfort was in reading like Naruto had been. She imagined that this wasn't even scratching the surface of what Naruto's life had been like and the thought nearly caused her to break down in tears.

"Why?" Her voice broke the silence that the office had fallen into after the revelation. "Why did Danzou do that to you. Why did he pick you?"

Sarutobi glanced at Fox who gave the most subtle of nods. Sarutobi nodded back, but said, "If I am going to tell you that then I'd suggest we wait until we can get Naruto out here, unless he already knows?" Sarutobi asked, looking at Fox. The former ROOT shook his head and Sarutobi sighed. "Any idea how long it will be until you are able to create another collar?" He asked, gesturing to Fox's bare neck.

"I already have one, sir." He presented what used to be Kiba's belt. The strap was shortened dramatically and sewn along the inside of the leather were seals made of bloodied thread. "This should provide an adequate temporary collar until I create a more durable one. I have however encountered a problem."

"Oh?" Sarutobi asked.

Fox pointed to the buckle where a small seal was visible. "This is the most important seal on the collar. It is a Chakra Circuit seal, that allows the chakra stored in the collar to continuously loop through the seals, powering the Suppression seals that keep me contained. When the collar is removed, the circuit breaks and the chakra powering the seals stops. However, part of it's design incorporates a Repulsion seal, one which I am unable to separate from the Chakra Circuit seal because of the design. This means that only someone other than the person wearing it can remove it. So in a battle either Kurenai-san, Ino-san, or Kiba-san would have to remove the collar from my neck to allow me to take over in a fight."

He was about to put the collar around his neck when a thought occurred to him. "After we are done here there is something I must show you in private."

Sarutobi and Kurenai both made a mental note of this and nodded for Fox to proceed. Fox placed the collar around his neck and fastened the buckle, then immediately slumped in his chair. Thinking he was about to fall, Ino instinctively reached out to steady him by placing a hand on his shoulder. She helped him sit up straight as he tried to blink the bleariness away.

The change was noticeable to everyone. His features relaxed more, the razor sharp alertness fell away, and life seemed to surge into his eyes, seemingly making them lighten from dark colbat to bright cerulean. He smiled shakily to Ino and sat properly in his chair as Ino drew back, her hand lingering on his shoulder for a moment.

"Naruto?" Sarutobi asked. "Did you hear everything that was said?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, Jiji, Fox already explained it all, except why I was taken. He said that you should tell me because there were parts of it that he didn't know."

Sarutobi refilled his pipe as he prepared himself, before he began. Over the course of the next hour he told them the truth of October 10th twelve years previous. He was extremely careful to explain it in a way that pressed home the fact that Naruto was the Kyuubi's prison, not the Kyuubi itself. To say the three teens were shocked was an understatement.

Naruto couldn't believe it. Not that a demon was sealed in him, but that someone actually managed to seal the Kyuubi. He had seen the seal on his stomach before and had guessed that something was sealed inside him because the basic structure of the seal was roughly similar to a containment seal with a _lot_ of additions thrown in. He'd even asked about it once and was told that he was a Jinchuuriki and to not speak of it again. Having read up on both demonology and sealing, he knew that the process of sealing and containing a demon was extremely difficult and was made even more complicated the stronger the demon. So as the strongest of all demons, the Kyuubi would have been near impossible to imprison. His respect for the Yondaime's skills rose a few notches. He knew that there was more to the story than they were saying. He made a mental note to get to the full truth.

Kiba, understandably, was shocked that his team mate contained a demon. However, contrary to popular belief, Kiba was in fact capable of thinking things through and so he realised that even though he had a demon sealed inside him, Naruto couldn't be dangerous because the Hokage wouldn't let the thing that almost destroyed the village walk around free. His previous idea of leaving Naruto behind in the tunnels after his collar came off also came back to him and he felt shame claw inside his chest. Konoha ninja were famed for their teamwork and Inuzuka's were doubly lauded for their number one rule: 'No matter what, stick by your pack. Protect them, and they shall protect you.'. Kiba would face hell when his family heard of his idea to abandon Naruto and he was not going to make that same mistake twice.

Ino…was pissed. The sheer unfairness of it all left a bad taste in her mouth. It seemed that there was very little good in Naruto's life. His imprisonment, his mind getting messed with which resulted in the birth of Fox, all the terrible things he must have been forced to do at a very young age, the years of solitude, being on death row, and all the other things that Naruto had experienced. And now she could add the Kyuubi to that list. She didn't even want to think what it was like to hold back a demon. She couldn't fathom how Naruto turned out as great as he did considering what his life had been like, but she would be forever thankful for it and she swore that if she ever met Danzou she would trash his mind so bad that he'd be skipping down Konoha's streets with his hair in pigtails thinking he was a four year old girl.

"Why?"

Everyone looked at Ino when she broke the silence. She kept her head bowed so that they wouldn't see the tears threatening to well up in her eyes and she somehow managed to keep a quiver out of her voice. "Why did he seal it into Naruto? If he didn't then Naruto wouldn't have been taken by Danzou. So why did he do it?"

Naruto and Kiba looked at the Hokage. It was a valid question.

Sarutobi closed his eyes. "Sealing demons is very complex work. Usually we can seal minor demons in talismans or statues. However sealing a Bijuu is different. Because of their sheer power they can overwhelm talisman seals easily and, if given enough time, can destroy a statue seal from the inside. Sealing them into humans however negates this. The human body is always changing, always adapting. If you seal a Bijuu into a baby a few hours old then as the baby grows it will be able to keep the demon contained and, depending on the quality of the seal, be able to block and counter any attempts of the demon to escape. The demon has to be careful about it though because if a demon's host dies when the demon is still inside then so does the demon."

They were silent for a moment before Kurenai turned to her students. "Before we finish, I need to know how you feel about what you've learned. I won't lie, if you stay on this team then you will be in danger from ROOT. If you want to transfer then I won't hold it against you and I'm sure Naruto wouldn't either." Naruto shook his head.

Ino and Kiba glanced at each other, talking with their eyes. After a few moments they turned to Kurenai, determination shining in their eyes. "We're staying." Was all they said.

Naruto, Kurenai, and Sarutobi smiled back at them. "Thanks guys." Naruto said, genuinely touched. They smiled back before Sarutobi drew their attention back to him.

"Well now that that's done with, I'd suggest that you go home and get some rest. Oh, and you should know that because you fought off those ROOT members, your mission had been upgraded to S-rank. Congratulations. Naruto please stay behind."

Ino and Kiba rose from their chairs in a daze. Their mission was S-rank? That was a lot of money and the fact that they went on one so soon would help them a lot in their careers.

Naruto watched them stagger out of the office and waited for the door to close before he turned his attention back to Sarutobi. "Okay Jiji. Spill."

"Naruto?" Kurenai asked.

Naruto didn't take his eyes off Sarutobi. "Why did the Fourth use me?"

Sarutobi blinked. "I already told you the reason Naruto, along with your team."

Naruto shook his head. "That was why he sealed the Kyuubi _in a human_, not why he sealed it in _me _specifically. So, why did he chose me?"

"What makes you think there was any other reason than to save the village?"

Naruto snorted. "C'mon Jiji. I doubt the Fourth would have just chose the first kid he could find to hold back the strongest of the Bijuu. He would only have chosen someone to hold that kind of power if he knew he could trust them not to abuse it. So, why did he choose me?"

Sarutobi sighed. The damn kid was too smart for his own good. "Do you want the long, looking-out-for-you-feelings answer, or the short, straight to the point answer?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before he shrugged. "Just give it to me straight."

Sarutobi glanced at Kurenai before he said, "In short: he was your father."

Naruto's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. That…was a surprise. _'But not really if you think about it. Who would he trust more than his own son?'_

Kurenai and Sarutobi watched Naruto in silence as he digested what he heard. It was strange. He didn't seem angry or sad about finding out his father sealed a demon into him, and he didn't seem happy or shocked at finding out who his father was. He just seemed…surprised.

After almost five minutes of silence Kurenai reached out and lay a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto?"

Naruto started out of his trance and blinked sheepishly at the other two. Chuckling, he scratched the back of his head. "Ha, sorry about that."

"That's okay. Are you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I guess."

Kurenai's brow scrunched in confusion. "What does that mean?"

Naruto shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess that I don't really know how to feel about it yet."

Kurenai nodded her head. It was understandable; he hadn't had any parental figure to understand the level of trust a child would have in their parents so as far as he was concerned, the Yondaime was just a relative that sealed a demon into him.

"Maybe you should think on it when you have more time?" Sarutobi offered, to which Naruto agreed.

"We can talk about this later tonight if you want." Kurenai told him.

"Thanks Kurenai-nee-chan."

"Well, if that's all, I believe Fox had something he wished to tell us."

Naruto nodded, and allowed Kurenai to remove his collar. His body slumped before his head was raised, and the cold eyes of Fox stared back at them. He took a moment to give Naruto's conscious a mental kick to wake him up, then looked at the other two ninja.

"Follow me." He simply said before raising from his chair, and leaving the room, with Sarutobi and Kurenai following.

* * *

**A/N: I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,soooooooooo sorry! These last few months have been hell on earth what with prom, applying for college, family health issues, looking for work, going on holiday, and a whole host of other problems that have kept me from committing myself to writing. I **_**promise **_**to try and not let it go too long before I update again (this promise extends to those who read my other story 'True Shinobi'). I was actually going to write more for this chapter, but I thought it best to get it out now because it seemed long enough.**

**The main reason for the delay was the fight scene. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get it right. There may be a time when I rewrite it. **

**I am also considering sprucing up my other chapters. You know; fixing grammar and the such. I wont be changing the story, just how it is written. I also may go back and change Sasuke's attitude.**

**Just so you know THIS IS NOT A SASUKE-BASH STORY, HE WILL ACTUALLY PLAY A BIG ROLE IN IT!!!**

**Jutsu marked with a (*) belong to me:**

**Suiton: Suigadan - Water Release: Water Fang Projectile**

**Suiton: Daibakufu - Water Release: Grand Waterfall**

**Raiton: Hatsudenki Nagare - Lightning Release: Dynamo Current (*)**

**Suiton: Goshokuzame - Water Release: Five Sharks Eating**

**Magen: Jubaku Satsu - Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death**


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